Donald Trump said on Tuesday he is terminating all documents, including pardons, that he said his predecessor Joe Biden signed using an autopen – an unprecedented attempt to rollback a previous president’s actions using what legal thinkers view as a flimsy pretext.
The autopen is a device used to replicate a person’s signature with precision, typically for high-volume or ceremonial documents. It has been employed by presidents of both major parties to sign letters and proclamations.
Legal scholars broadly agree the constitution does not require a president to physically sign many documents, including pardons, with their bare hands to make them legally enforceable, according to PolitiFact. Federal law also lacks a mechanism for a president to overturn a previous president’s pardon.
Trump and his supporters have made a variety of unfounded claims that Biden’s use of the device while president invalidated his actions or suggested that he was not fully aware of these actions. It is not known whether Biden used an autopen on pardons.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Before leaving office in January, Biden issued several pardons, including for family members – such as his two brothers and his sister – whom he said he wanted to protect from politically motivated investigations. He also commuted sentences, including for nonviolent drug offenders.
Trump’s attempt to nullify his predecessor’s actions will not apply to the pardon of Biden’s son Hunter, because he is known to have used a pen to sign it, according to Fox News. The outlet did anticipate Trump’s action would affect Dr Anthony Fauci.
Other key figures pardoned by Biden include retired Gen Mark Milley, members of the House committee that investigated the January 6 attack against the US Capitol and former Republican representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.
Trump, known for his provocative style and dislike for his political opponents, has repeatedly targeted Biden’s use of the autopen to sign official documents during his presidency.
The US president has also questioned Biden’s mental fitness and suggested that aides, not Biden himself, made key decisions. Biden and his former aides have denied these claims, emphasizing the president’s active role in governing.
The use of mechanical copying devices for handwritten documents date back to the polygraph tool embraced by Thomas Jefferson. The justice department under George W Bush contended that the autopen amounts to the same thing as a president’s signature for legal purposes – including signing legislation.
Attempting to overturn pardons based on the purported use of an autopen rests on even shakier legal ground. The constitution does not even technically require a pardon to be written, let alone signed.
Still, Trump is known for decisively taking action that flies in the face of legal precedent and then letting the courts sort it out. Autopens have not faced serious legal challenge until now.