Trump Questions Biden’s Autopen Decisions

Donald Trump is looking to wipe out a lot of Joe Biden’s past actions based on how they were signed. In a post on the social media platform Truth Social, Trump said that anything Biden approved using what he called the “unauthorised autopen” shouldn’t count anymore. According to him, every order, proclamation, memo or agreement that relied on that device is effectively cancelled and no longer valid. For decades, the White House has kept an autopen on hand, a gadget presidents use to stamp their signature when they’re not signing papers themselves.

The autopen, first patented in the US in the early 1800s, is basically a mechanical stand-in that can copy a person’s handwriting with real ink, and it’s typically used when a lot of documents need to be signed quickly. And in 2005, the US Justice Department noted that a president doesn’t have to physically put pen to paper for a bill to become law. They explained that a president can approve legislation by telling a staff member to apply his signature for him, including through an autopen, as long as the decision to sign is truly his.

Using an autopen has been common for presidents for a long time. Thomas Jefferson used an early version of it, and later presidents like Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford and John F. Kennedy also relied on it. Barack Obama used the device too, even to sign important bills when he was out of the country. Even Trump has said he did use an autopen but stressed that it was limited to what he called “very unimportant papers”.

Trump has argued that others were using the autopen on Biden’s behalf, even claiming that made about “92%” of Biden’s executive orders invalid. But there’s no evidence to support that or to show how often Biden used the device. Trump has long mocked Biden over the autopen. He even placed a photo of the device in the White House’s new presidential gallery instead of Biden’s portrait.

Before leaving office, Biden reportedly pardoned some family members to protect them from political probes and cut sentences for non-violent drug offenders. In July, Biden acknowledged using the autopen at the close of his term to sign pardons and clemencies. Though some senior officials raised concerns, he insisted he remained in control of every decision. It’s not clear how Trump would undo most of Biden’s actions. While presidents can cancel executive orders, they cannot reverse pardons, which are final under the US Constitution.