President Donald Trump on Tuesday followed through on a pledge he made last week, announcing that he has "completely terminated" every action signed by former President Joe Biden using the autopen, declaring those measures null and void.
"Any and all Documents, Proclamations, Executive Orders, Memorandums, or Contracts, signed by Order of the now infamous and unauthorized 'AUTOPEN,' within the Administration of Joseph R. Biden Jr., are hereby null, void, and of no further force or effect," Trump said in a post to Truth Social.
"Anyone receiving 'Pardons,' 'Commutations,' or any other Legal Document so signed, please be advised that said Document has been fully and completely terminated, and is of no Legal effect," he added.
Tuesday's post echoed Trump's remarks from Friday, when he wrote that "any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby canceling and of no further force or effect."
Trump has spent months arguing that Biden relied on the autopen for everything from executive orders to national-emergency extensions to routine certifications.
He has said Biden used it so frequently that "staff were effectively running the government with a machine."
Federal defense attorney Ronald Chapman II told Newsmax on Sunday that Trump has the authority to void executive actions taken under Biden's autopen if the device was used without Biden's approval.
"So if anybody used the autopen without Joe Biden's express permission, without him deciding that a pardon is OK, it's going to be an invalid signature, and the force and effect of that signature makes it moot," Chapman said.
Legal experts say autopen-signed presidential actions remain valid as long as the president authorized them, regardless of who physically operated the device.
Indeed, according to a 2005 memo from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), a president need not personally affix his signature: he may direct a subordinate — or a mechanical device such as an autopen — to sign on his behalf.
With the president's authorization, that line of reasoning goes, the mode of signature is immaterial. And some constitutional scholars have pointed out that, historically, even pardons and other clemency documents have been issued via delegated signature, and courts have not invalidated autopen-signed pardons on the mere basis of their mechanical origin.
But if a president truly had no knowledge of the device's use or did not consent to the signature, some scholars argue those actions could be challengeable.
Biden aides previously have acknowledged he used the autopen for executive orders, ceremonial proclamations, condolence letters, holiday statements, and emergency-status renewals, especially when traveling or recovering from medical procedures.
A GOP-led House Oversight Committee report questioned the legitimacy of numerous executive actions with an autopen, alleging they sometimes lacked clear proof of Biden's personal approval. The Committee urged the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate potential misuse of presidential authority.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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