20 U.S.C. § 43
Section 43 · Appointment of regents; terms of office; vacancies
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Expeditions Unlimited Aquatic Enterprises, Inc. v. Smithsonian Institution (1977)
Most recently applied in Trump v. Cook (U.S. 2026, slip opinion) (June 2026)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The regents to be selected shall be appointed as follows: The Members of the Senate by the President thereof; the Members of the House by the Speaker thereof; and the nine other persons by joint resolution of the Congress. The Members of the House so appointed shall serve for the term of two years; and on every alternate fourth Wednesday of December a like number shall be appointed in the same manner to serve until the fourth Wednesday in December, in the second year succeeding their appointment. The Senators so appointed shall serve during the term for which they shall hold, without re-election, their office as Senators. Vacancies, occasioned by death, resignation, or otherwise, shall be filled as vacancies in committees are filled. The regular term of service for the other nine members shall be six years; and new elections thereof shall be made by joint resolutions of Congress. Vacancies occasioned by death, resignation, or otherwise may be filled in like manner by joint resolution of Congress.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
R.S. §5581 derived from act Aug. 10, 1846, ch. 178, §3, 9 Stat. 103.
Amendments
1970—Pub. L. 91–551 authorized appointment of three additional members of the board by joint resolution of Congress.