The U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday to pass legislation that would remove Confederate statues — plus any statues of individuals who perpetuated racism or white supremacy — from the U.S. Capitol. 


What You Need To Know

  • The U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 3005 Tuesday evening, legislation that would remove Confederate statues from Capitol grounds

  • The final vote was 285-120; Sixty-seven Republicans joined every House Democrat present to vote in favor of the measure

  • The legislation specifically called for the bust of Roger B. Taney in the Old Supreme Court Chamber to be replaced with a bust of Thurgood Marshall 

  • The architect of the Capitol would be instructed to identify any other statues depicting those who served in the Confederate States of America for removal from public display

The final vote was 285-120. Sixty-seven Republicans joined every House Democrat present to vote in favor of the measure. The bill now heads to the Senate, where 10 Republicans would need to join all 50 Democrats to pass the measure.

H.R. 3005, introduced by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., in May of this year, specifically called for the bust of Roger B. Taney in the Old Supreme Court Chamber to be replaced with a bust of Thurgood Marshall. 

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney authored the majority opinion on the Dred Scott v. Sandford case in 1857, which declared in part that previously enslaved Black people were not U.S. citizens, and therefore had no standing in federal court. 

"This sacred space, this temple of democracy has been defiled for too long. We ought not to forget history. We must learn from history," Leader Hoyer said on the House floor ahead of the vote. "But we ought not to honor that which defiles the principles for which we ... stand,"

"It's time to remove those symbols of slavery, segregation and sedition from these halls," he added.

That decision was later nullified by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments.

“This decision represents the dark chapter of racism, slavery, and sedition in our nation’s history,” Rep. Hoyer said of the Dred Scott case in a statement introducing the legislation. “Chief Justice Taney’s decision was in direct opposition to everything our country stands for, and his bust should not continue to hold a place of honor in the Capitol building.” 

Hoyer instead proposed a bust of Thurgood Marshall, a civil rights champion and the first Black Supreme Court Justice in the history of the United States, to replace that of Taney. 

“It’s never too late to do the right thing, and this legislation would work to right a historic wrong while ensuring our Capitol reflects the principles and ideals of what Americans stand for,” Hoyer wrote. 

The bill named three additional statues to be removed from the Capitol, without identifying other replacement iconographs. 

Those include North Carolina’s statue of Charles Brantley Aycock, the 50th governor of the state and an ardent supporter of white supremacy; South Carolina’s statue of John Caldwell Calhoun, the nation’s seventh vice president and a defender of slavery; and Arkansas’ statue of James Paul Clarke, a former governor of the state and defender of white supremacy. 

Lawmakers from North Carolina were already separately working to replace the statue of Charles Aycock with that of the Rev. Billy Graham. But the process is painfully slow.

Longer-term, the architect of the Capitol would be instructed to identify any other statues depicting those who served in the Confederate States of America for removal from public display. 

As of late last year, there were still at least 11 Confederate monuments still standing in the Capitol. 

Under federal law, each state can choose two statues or busts to stand in the National Statuary Hall Collection on Capitol Hill. 

Any removed statue would go back to its state of origin.

Jefferson Davis, a former U.S. senator from Mississippi who was president of the Confederate States of America, is represented by one of two statues from that state. The statue of Davis, for example, would be returned to Mississippi and that of Alexander Hamilton Stephens would be returned to Georgia. 

Ultimately, it would be up to the states to determine which of their historical figures to display. 

Hoyer introduced similar legislation last summer, and the House voted 305-113 in favor of the bill — but the GOP-controlled Senate failed to take any action. Democrats hope the even split in the Senate will give this year’s version a better chance at passing. 

“We can’t change history, but we can certainly make it clear that which we honor and that which we do not honor symbols of slavery, sedition, and segregation have no place in the halls of Congress,” Hoyer said to reporters on Tuesday, adding that he expects Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to take up the bill in the near future.