Biden Autopen Row: Can Trump ‘Terminate’ All Orders? Legal Experts Give Verdict
Former President Donald Trump has claimed that executive orders and other documents signed by President Joe Biden via autopen – a machine replicating a handwritten signature – are invalid and should be cancelled. Trump alleges Biden was not personally involved in the autopen process, accusing unnamed White House staff of illegal actions. He stated on Truth Social that approximately 92% of documents bearing Biden’s signature were signed using the autopen and are thus ”terminated, and of no further force or effect.” He further asserted he is cancelling all executive orders and anything not ”directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden,” threatening perjury charges if Biden claims involvement.
An autopen captures a signature digitally and mechanically replicates it on documents, creating a signature closely resembling a handwritten one.
Though, the legality of Trump’s attempt to invalidate these orders is questionable. A 2005 Justice Department guidance clarifies that a president doesn’t need to physically sign a document for it to become law. The guidance states the President may sign a bill “by directing a subordinate to affix the President’s signature to such a bill, for example by autopen.”
Legal experts have largely dismissed Trump’s claims. While they haven’t yet fully weighed in on his recent posts, previous commentary on the use of autopens for presidential pardons reveals a consensus that the practice is legally sound.
David Super, a constitutional and administrative law expert at Georgetown University, explained that the Constitution doesn’t require written signatures for pardons. “The Constitution does not require signatures for pardons. It simply says the president has the power to pardon,” he said, adding that a verbal pardon would even be sufficient, though written documentation is administratively preferable, as per News from the States.
Kermit Roosevelt, a constitutional law expert at the University of Pennsylvania, stated, “If the president doesn’t know that something was done, then it’s not a valid official act. But I highly doubt that that happened. I know of no reason to think that that did happen.”
The use of autopens is not new; previous presidents, including Barack Obama and George W. Bush, have also utilized the technology.Despite ongoing debate surrounding its use, no court has previously struck down presidential orders solely based on being signed via autopen.