A motion to remove a controversial bust of Confederate General and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Capitol has failed. Officials with the State Capitol Commission in charge of making decisions on Capitol grounds issues voted down the waiver request for removal by a 7-5 margin. The SCC is comprised of the Secretary of State, State Treasurer, Comptroller of the Treasury, and members of the Tennessee House and Senate. In order to remove the bust, the commission needed to grant a waiver request which would then move the issue to the Tennessee Historical Commission for a vote. The vote came weeks after protesters took to the Capitol calling for the bust’s removal. Governor Bill Haslam stated shortly after that he agreed it should be removed, saying “I do not believe Nathan Bedford Forrest should be one of the individuals we honor at the Capitol.”