FREDERICK, Md. (AP) - Frederick officials have approved a resolution to move a bronze bust of the U.S. Supreme Court chief justice who wrote the 1857 Dred Scott decision affirming slavery.
The Frederick News-Post reports that the Board of Alderman's unanimous decision Thursday begins a process that could lead to removing the bust of Roger Brooke Taney (TAW'-nee) from outside City Hall, where it has been since 1931.
Alderwoman Donna Kuzemchak says other commissions will be asked for their input on possibly relocating the statue.
Taney practiced law in Frederick before becoming the nation's fifth chief justice. While on the high court, he authored the Dred Scott opinion, writing that the framers of the Constitution regarded blacks as "inferior" beings with no citizenship rights.
Defenders of the statue say Taney's other rulings and actions show that he personally abhorred slavery.
