WASHINGTON — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday he is joining the movement to remove a statue of a Supreme Court justice who wrote a decision upholding slavery.
The monument to former Chief Justice Roger B. Taney sits on the front law of the Maryland State House. Taney, a Maryland native, wrote the 1857 Dred Scott decision that upheld slavery and denied citizenship to black people.
Hogan released the following statement Tuesday:
“As I said at my inauguration, Maryland has always been a state of middle temperament, which is a guiding principle of our administration. While we cannot hide from our history — nor should we — the time has come to make clear the difference between properly acknowledging our past and glorifying the darkest chapters of our history. With that in mind, I believe removing the Justice Roger B. Taney statue from the State House grounds is the right thing to do, and we will ask the State House Trust to take that action immediately.”
Maryland Speaker of the House Michael E. Busch said Monday the monument to Taney “doesn’t belong” at the State House in Annapolis.
The remarks come days after hundreds of protesters gathered in Charlottesville over the weekend to decry a gathering of white supremacists to rally against plans to remove a Confederate statue. A woman was killed when a car plowed into a crowd.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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