Smithsonian, Appointments Clause, and Incompatibility Clause

[Volokh, Eugene]

	John raises a very interesting First Amendment question, but I
wanted to ask a different constitutional question (and it is sincerely a
question, to which there may well be a settled and obvious answer that I
just don't know, since I haven't studied these issues much):  If the
Smithsonian is indeed a governmental or governmentalish organization,
then wouldn't the Board of Regents staffing violate the provision that
"no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member
of either House during his Continuance in Office"?  Also, would a
statutory provision mandating that certain offices on the Board of
Regents be held by particular statutorily designated officials violate
the Appointments Clause, since it would be tantamount to a Congressional
appointment of executive officers?

	Eugene


John Noble writes:

Note that the Smithsonian was established by federal legislation. By
law, its Board of Regents includes the Chief Justice (Chancellor), the
Vice-President, 3 members of the Senate, and 3 members of the House,
accounting for 8 of its 17 Regents.