A bill 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.
Bill: S.5229 | Sponsor: Sen. Cardin, Benjamin L. (D-MD)
Policy area: Congress

Summary:
This act directs the Joint Committee on the Library to remove the bust of Roger Brooke Taney in the Old Supreme Court chamber of the Capitol and install a bust of Thurgood Marshall in a prominent location in the Capitol or on the Capitol Grounds.
In determining the location for the permanent installation of the bust of Thurgood Marshall, the committee shall give priority to identifying an appropriate location near the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the Capitol.

[117th Congress Public Law 326]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



[[Page 136 STAT. 4452]]

Public Law 117-326
117th Congress

                                 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. <<NOTE: Dec. 27, 2022 -  [S. 5229]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, <<NOTE: 2 USC 2133 
note.>> 
SECTION 1. <<NOTE: Deadlines.>>  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,

[[Page 136 STAT. 4453]]

        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.

    Approved December 27, 2022.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--S. 5229:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 168 (2022):
            Dec. 8, considered and passed Senate.
            Dec. 14, considered and passed House.

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