[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7573 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7573

  To direct the Architect of the Capitol to replace the bust of Roger 
  Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the United States 
 Capitol with a bust of Thurgood Marshall to be obtained by the Joint 
 Committee on the Library and to remove certain statues from areas of 
the United States Capitol which are accessible to the public, to remove 
   all statues of individuals who voluntarily served the Confederate 
 States of America from display in the United States Capitol, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 13, 2020

 Mr. Hoyer (for himself, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Clyburn, Ms. Bass, 
   Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, and Mr. Butterfield) introduced the 
     following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House 
                             Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Architect of the Capitol to replace the bust of Roger 
  Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the United States 
 Capitol with a bust of Thurgood Marshall to be obtained by the Joint 
 Committee on the Library and to remove certain statues from areas of 
the United States Capitol which are accessible to the public, to remove 
   all statues of individuals who voluntarily served the Confederate 
 States of America from display in the United States Capitol, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. REPLACEMENT OF BUST OF ROGER BROOKE TANEY WITH BUST OF 
              THURGOOD MARSHALL.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) While sitting in the United States Capitol, the Supreme 
        Court issued the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford decision on 
        March 6, 1857. Written by Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, 
        whose bust sits inside the entrance to the Old Supreme Court 
        Chamber in the United States Capitol, this opinion declared 
        that African Americans were not citizens of the United States 
        and could not sue in Federal courts. This decision further 
        declared that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit 
        slavery in the territories.
            (2) Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney's authorship of Dred 
        Scott v. Sandford, the effects of which would only be 
        overturned years later by the ratification of the 13th, 14th, 
        and 15th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, 
        renders a bust of his likeness unsuitable for the honor of 
        display to the many visitors to the United States Capitol.
            (3) As Frederick Douglass said of this decision in May 
        1857, ``This infamous decision of the Slaveholding wing of the 
        Supreme Court maintains that slaves are within the 
        contemplation of the Constitution of the United States, 
        property; that slaves are property in the same sense that 
        horses, sheep, and swine are property; that the old doctrine 
        that slavery is a creature of local law is false; that the 
        right of the slaveholder to his slave does not depend upon the 
        local law, but is secured wherever the Constitution of the 
        United States extends; that Congress has no right to prohibit 
        slavery anywhere; that slavery may go in safety anywhere under 
        the star-spangled banner; that colored persons of African 
        descent have no rights that white men are bound to respect; 
        that colored men of African descent are not and cannot be 
        citizens of the United States.''.
            (4) While the removal of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney's 
        bust from the United States Capitol does not relieve the 
        Congress of the historical wrongs it committed to protect the 
        institution of slavery, it expresses Congress's recognition of 
        one of the most notorious wrongs to have ever taken place in 
        one of its rooms, that of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney's 
        Dred Scott v. Sandford decision.
    (b) Removal of Bust of Roger Brooke Taney.--Not later than 30 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Architect of the 
Capitol shall remove the bust of Roger Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme 
Court Chamber of the United States Capitol.
    (c) Replacement With Bust of Thurgood Marshall.--
            (1) Obtaining bust.--Not later than 2 years after the date 
        of the enactment of this Act, the Joint Committee on the 
        Library shall enter into an agreement to obtain a bust of 
        Thurgood Marshall, under such terms and conditions as the Joint 
        Committee considers appropriate consistent with applicable law.
            (2) Placement.--The Joint Committee on the Library shall 
        place the bust obtained under paragraph (1) in the location in 
        the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the United States Capitol 
        where the bust of Roger Brooke Taney was located prior to 
        removal by the Architect of the Capitol under subsection (b).

SEC. 2. REMOVAL OF CERTAIN STATUES.

    (a) Removal.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Architect of the Capitol shall remove the 
statue of Charles Brantley Aycock, the statute of John Caldwell 
Calhoun, and the statue of James Paul Clarke from any area of the 
United States Capitol which is accessible to the public.
    (b) Storage of Statues.--The Architect of the Capitol shall keep 
any statue removed under subsection (a) in storage until the Architect 
and the State which provided the statue arrange for the return of the 
statue to the State.

SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS AND REMOVAL PROCEDURES FOR STATUES IN NATIONAL 
              STATUARY HALL.

    (a) Requirements.--Section 1814 of the Revised Statutes (2 U.S.C. 
2131) is amended by inserting ``(other than persons who served as an 
officer or voluntarily with the Confederate States of America or of the 
military forces or government of a State while the State was in 
rebellion against the United States)'' after ``military services''.
    (b) Statue Removal Procedures.--
            (1) In general.--The Architect of the Capitol shall--
                    (A) identify all statues on display in the United 
                States Capitol that do not meet the requirements of 
                section 1814 of the Revised Statutes (2 U.S.C. 2131), 
                as amended by subsection (a); and
                    (B) subject to the approval of the Joint Committee 
                of Congress on the Library, arrange for the removal of 
                each such statue from the Capitol by not later than 120 
                days after the date of enactment of this Act.
            (2) Removal and return of statues.--
                    (A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (C), the 
                Architect of the Capitol shall arrange to transfer and 
                deliver any statue that is removed under this 
                subsection to the Smithsonian Institution.
                    (B) Storage or display of statues.--The Board of 
                Regents of the Smithsonian Institution shall follow the 
                policies and procedures of the Smithsonian Institution, 
                as in effect on the day before the date of enactment of 
                this Act, regarding the storage and display of any 
                statue transferred under subparagraph (A).
                    (C) State requests.--A statue provided for display 
                by a State that is removed under this subsection shall 
                be returned to the State, and the ownership of the 
                statue transferred to the State, if the State so 
                requests and agrees to pay any costs related to the 
                transportation of the statue to the State.
            (3) Replacement of statues.--A State that has a statue 
        removed under this subsection shall be able to replace such 
        statue in accordance with the requirements and procedures of 
        section 1814 of the Revised Statutes (2 U.S.C. 2131) and 
        section 311 of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2001 
        (2 U.S.C. 2132).
            (4) Authorization and appropriations.--
                    (A) In general.--There are appropriated for the 
                fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, out of any money 
                in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $5,000,000 
                to carry out this section, including the costs related 
                to the removal, transfer, security, storage, and 
                display of the statues described in paragraph (1)(A), 
                of which--
                            (i) $2,000,000 shall be made available to 
                        the Architect of the Capitol; and
                            (ii) $3,000,000 shall be made available to 
                        the Smithsonian Institution.
                    (B) Availability.--Amounts appropriated under 
                subparagraph (A) shall remain available until expended.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    In addition to the amounts appropriated under section 3(b)(4), 
there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary 
to carry out this Act, and any amounts so appropriated shall remain 
available until expended.
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