Who was Roger Taney and why is his bust being removed from the U.S. Capitol?

• Scott LaMar/WITF
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  Scott LaMar was formerly the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, Pa.
  
  Previously, LaMar was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.
  
  In addition to his on-air duties, LaMar moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
  
  The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
  
  LaMar and The Spark have been recognized throughout the Central Pennsylvania community including ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award”, the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award” and was named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.
  
  A native of Coatesville, Pa., LaMar has also worked as a broadcast news anchor, sports play-by-play announcer and manager.

Airdate: Monday, January 2, 2023

Congress has voted and President Biden has signed legislation to remove the bust of former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney from the U.S. Capitol. Taney wrote the Dred Scott decision in 1856, which is widely considered the worst decision in the court’s history. Taney was from Maryland but was a graduate of Dickinson College in Carlisle in 1796.

“While the removal of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney’s bust from the Capitol does not relieve the Congress of the historical wrongs it committed to protect the institution of slavery, it expresses Congress’s recognition of one of the most notorious wrongs to have ever taken place in one of its rooms, that of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney’s Dred Scott v. Sandford decision,” the bill, authored by Democratic Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, reads.

To talk about Roger Taney and that history on The Spark Monday was Matthew Pinsker, a Professor of History, who holds the Brian Pohanka Chair of Civil War History and serves as Director of the House Divided Project at Dickinson College..