Gov. Larry Hogan, who banished the Confederate flag from Maryland license plates after the shooting of nine people in a racially-driven attack in Charleston, S.C., said Thursday that the state will conduct no further review of Civil War-related symbols.
Hogan, speaking at a State House news conference, said he supports the decision of the South Carolina legislature to remove the rebel battle flag from that state's capitol grounds. He noted his decision to recall about 157 Sons of Confederate Veterans commemorative license plates, but drew the line there.
"It's political correctness run amok," he said.
In particular, Hogan rejected calls to remove the statue of Chief Justice Roger Taney, author of the Dred Scott decision that held that slaves had no legal rights, from the State House grounds. He noted that the Taney statue sits on one side of the State House while one of Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court justice, stands on the other.
"They're both part of our history," Hogan said. The governor noted that just this week he took part in the reopening of the State House room where George Washington, a slaveholder, resigned his military commission in 1783.
Hogan said he would have no objections if Baltimore wanted to conduct its own review of Confederate memorials or names.
"The city has every right to do so," he said. "I would have no interest in that."