The Democrat-led House voted on Wednesday to require the removal of all confederate statues from the halls of the Capitol building.
The bipartisan vote of 305-113 saw 72 Republican and one Libertarian representatives joining Democrats to pass the bill.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-Md.) legislation H.R. 7573, is co-sponsored by Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Texas), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Karen Bass (D-Calif.), G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), and Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee Glenn Thompson (D-Miss.).
Taney wrote the infamous 1857 Dred Scott decision, which asserted that slaves were not citizens and did not have the right to sue.
“What I do think is clearly a bridge too far is this nonsense that we need to airbrush the Capitol and scrub out everybody from years ago who had any connection to slavery,” McConnell said at the time.
There are 11 statues of Confederate figures displayed in various quarters of the Capitol.
National Statuary Hall includes two statues that each of the 50 states contributes to, of people that reflect their history, ranging from Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen from Vermont to Helen Keller from Alabama. The bill calls for the removal of statues of John C. Calhoun, Charles B. Aycock, and John C. Clarke, whom it identifies as defenders of slavery and white supremacy.
“Defenders and purveyors of sedition, slavery, segregation, and white supremacy have no place in this temple of liberty,” he continued.
“Those statues that we will remove, those remembrances that we will remove ought to, as I said, be relegated a place of history of the dark stains of America, not the high convictions of America,” he later said in concluding remarks.
“It’s past time that we ended the glorification of men who committed treason against the United States in a concerted effort to keep African Americans in chains,” he added.
Rep. Bass told reporters, “the Capitol can never really be for the people with reminders of a painful history that sought to continue the enslavement and our control of the African American population.”
“While statues do reflect an aspect of our history, statues are not just historical markers but are tributes, a way to honor an individual, and these individuals do not deserve to be honored," Bass added.