Washington, D.C. —Today, in advance of the House's vote on H.R. 7573, which would direct the Architect of the Capitol to replace the bust of former Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney with the bust of Justice Thurgood Marshall, as well as remove all statues of Confederate Generals on Capitol grounds, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) issued the following statement:

"The bust of Roger B. Taney and the statues of Confederate Generals on display in the Capitol are symbols of racism; symbols of terror; symbols of White Supremacy; and symbols of hate. Full stop.

"And that is not a question of opinion or interpretation. Roger B. Taney wrote the majority opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which every student learns stated without equivocation that whether enslaved or free, the U.S. Constitution did not, and was not intended to, grant citizenship to Black Americans and therefore Black people in this country had no rights. Yet his bust sits in a place of honor outside the Old Supreme Court in this Capitol where thousands of visitors stop to honor him.

"The men these statues honor enslaved thousands of Black people for generations. They went to war and fired on American troops to keep enslaving Black people for generations. There were traitors to this country. And when they lost that war, they continued to terrorize Black families and deny them the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Yet their statues cover the halls of this Capitol some wearing the very uniforms they donned to shoot at American troops.

"We have been told that these statues, and the flag they fought under, represent “history” and “heritage.” It’s a heritage of hate and a history of terror that has no place in a hall meant to honor Americans heroes. No other country in the world chooses to highlight and honor the terror of their past like this. There are no statutes to honor Pol Pot in Cambodia. No heroic statues of Adolf Hitler in Germany. The relics of those horrible, violent eras are relegated to museums where they are put into context and the history is explained.

"That is exactly what we should do with all relics of the traitors who took up arms against this country to deny the rights of Black people. They deserve neither a place of honor in this Capitol nor adoration from this country. I am proud to support this bill and send them back to the states from which they came."