Maryland’s Senate President: Taney Remarks Weren’t Meant to Divide

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) – Maryland’s Senate President says he regrets that his remarks about the late Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney became a distraction.

The Washington Post reports that a dozen African American ministers and community activists gathered in Prince George’s County Monday to condemn Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr.’s defense of the author of the Dred Scott decision.

In a recent letter, Miller criticized the removal of the statue from State House grounds without a public meeting beforehand. He noted the “inflammatory and derogatory language” of the Dred Scott decision, but also stressed Taney’s “prior anti-slavery words and actions.”

Miller said in a statement Monday that he regrets that sharing his “historical perspective” has distracted from “the larger issue we must face together as a nation” and his role to “bring unity and fight for a better Maryland.”