S. 5229 

One Hundred Seventeenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and twenty two 

An Act 

To direct the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library to remove the bust 

of Roger Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the Capitol and 

to obtain a bust of Thurgood Marshall for installation in the Capitol or on 

the Capitol Grounds, 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 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 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 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 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, 
S. 5229—2 

that of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney’s Dred Scott v. 

Sandford decision. 

(b) REMOVAL OF BUST OF ROGER BROOKE TANEY.—Not later 

than 45 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Joint 

Committee of Congress on the Library (referred to in this Act 

as the ‘‘Joint Committee’’) shall remove from public display the 

bust of Roger Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme Court Chamber 

of the Capitol and the plinth upon which the bust is placed. The 

bust and plinth shall remain in the custody of the Senate Curator. 

(c) BUST OF THURGOOD MARSHALL.— 

(1) OBTAINING BUST.—Not later than 2 years after the 

date of enactment of this Act, the Joint Committee shall enter 

into an agreement to obtain a bust of Thurgood Marshall, 

under such terms and conditions as the Joint Committee considers appropriate and consistent with applicable law. 

(2) PLACEMENT.— 

(A) IN GENERAL.—The Architect of the Capitol, under 

the direction of the Joint Committee, shall permanently 

install the bust obtained under paragraph (1) in a prominent location in the Capitol or on the United States Capitol 

Grounds, as described in section 5102 of title 40, United 

States Code. 

(B) PRIORITY FOR LOCATION.—In determining the location for the permanent installation of the bust obtained 

under paragraph (1), the Joint Committee shall give priority to identifying an appropriate location near the Old 

Supreme Court Chamber of the Capitol. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.