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Taney’s towering bronze likeness sits outside the State House — close to a memorial for civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and a statue of Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court justice.

The social justice group Progressive Cheverly says Taney must go.

‘‘[Dred Scott] is universally recognized as one of the worst, if not the worst, Supreme Court decision that’s ever been rendered,” said member John Rebstock, 47, a Montgomery County elementary school teacher.

He said it needs to be replaced with a more ‘‘unifying figure.”

Now is the time to act, since the General Assembly adopted a resolution this spring expressing regret for the state’s role in slavery, he said.

‘‘There is a timeliness about both these things coming about,” said Cheverly member Terrence Doyle, 59, who teaches communication at Northern Virginia Community College.

Progressive Cheverly formalized its intentions by sending e-mails to House Speaker Michael E. Busch and Gov. Martin O’Malley urging removal of the statue to a place where it can be explained and put in context, such as a museum.

So far, there’s been no response.

But some think that historical balance has already been struck.

Elaine Rice Bachmann, curator of the Maryland Commission on Artistic Property, which oversees the state’s art collection, said Marshall’s statue was deliberately placed across from Taney’s in 1996.

‘‘There’s no hiding it. I think it’s history, warts and all,” Bachmann said. She said there have been occasional complaints about the statue from visitors and legislators, but no formal drive to remove it until now.

Del. Jolene Ivey (D-Dist. 47) of Cheverly is the only official who has taken up the quest.

‘‘I’m still looking in to how best to do it,” she says. ‘‘I don’t know if it’s necessary to pass legislation. It might be enough to do it administratively,” she said.

‘‘I think a basement in some dark corner would be an appropriate place ... but to have it right in front of the capitol is too much for me,” Ivey added.

‘‘I’m not really in favor of taking down statues in the interest of political correctness,” said Del. Doyle Niemann (D-Dist. 47) of Mount Rainier, who represents Cheverly. ‘‘[Dred Scott] was a terrible decision and acknowledged by the Supreme Court. But still, he was chief justice of the Supreme Court.”

Ivey acknowledged that most people probably don’t know whom they’re looking at when they pass the statue since there is little biographical information on the likeness.

It’s not the first time that a Taney statue has been at the center of a controversy.

Commissioning the bust for the U.S. Supreme Court sparked fierce debate in Congress in 1865 when Sen. Charles Sumner, a Republican abolitionist from Massachusetts, proclaimed that ‘‘the name of Taney is to be hooted down the page of history.”

The commission was postponed and only picked up again and completed in 1877. It now rests in the Old Supreme Court chamber in the U.S. Capitol.

The Annapolis statue, sculpted by William Henry Rinehart, was dedicated in 1872, shortly after Taney’s death.

Sen. Nathaniel Exum (D-Dist. 24) of Capitol Heights, author of the state’s apology for slavery, hasn’t signed on to the campaign, but he may consider it.

‘‘I’m willing to have a discussion on it, but I can’t say what position I would take,” Exum said. ‘‘As a proponent of history, I think that we do need to have some of our history around, so it can remind us and teach us that there are some things that we just ought not to do.”