I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6131 
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 for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 9, 2020 
Mr. HOYER (for himself, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Mr. TRONE, Mr. RASKIN, 
Mr. SARBANES, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. BASS, and 
Ms. NORTON) 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 Cham-
ber of the United States Capitol with a bust of Thurgood 
Marshall to be obtained by the Joint Committee on the 
Library, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) While sitting in the United States Capitol, 
the Supreme Court issued the infamous Dred Scott 
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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 author-
ship of Dred Scott v. Sandford, the effects of which 
would only be overturned years later by the ratifica-
tion 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 Slave-
holding wing of the Supreme Court maintains that 
slaves are within the contemplation of the Constitu-
tion 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 
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the local law, but is secured wherever the Constitu-
tion 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. 
SEC. 2. REPLACEMENT OF BUST OF ROGER BROOKE TANEY 
WITH BUST OF THURGOOD MARSHALL. 
(a) REMOVAL
OF
BUST
OF
ROGER
BROOKE 
TANEY.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the en-
actment of this Act, the Architect of the Capitol shall re-
move the bust of Roger Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme 
Court Chamber of the United States Capitol. 
(b) REPLACEMENT WITH BUST OF THURGOOD MAR-
SHALL.— 
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(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 agree-
ment 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 para-
graph (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 re-
moval by the Architect of the Capitol under sub-
section (a). 
(c) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
necessary to carry out this Act, and any amounts so ap-
propriated shall remain available until expended. 
Æ 
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