BALTIMORE _ A key panel voted Wednesday to remove a statue of Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney from the grounds of the State House in Annapolis.
In a vote taken by email, three members of the four-member State House Trust voted in favor of removing the statue of Taney, who was the author of the infamous Dred Scott decision that upheld slavery and said black Americans could not become citizens.
Voting in favor of removing the statue were Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, House of Delegates Speaker Michael E. Busch and Charles L. Edson, who represents the Maryland Historical Trust.
It was not immediately clear how the fourth member, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, voted. Miller has said he does not support removing the statue, but that he would not try to block its removal.
The State House Trust oversees the State House and the grounds around it.
It remains unknown when the Taney statue would be moved from its perch overlooking the front lawn of the State House, or what would happen to the statue.
The state's Department of Legislative Services estimated last year that it would cost $77,000 to remove the statue and another $5,000 per year to store it.
