In brief
Following President Trump’s remarks that many pardons issued by President Biden are void due to their electronic signing, a thorough investigation reveals no support for his allegations. Legal experts emphasize that there is no legal foundation to invalidate such pardons signed via autopen.
Former President Donald Trump has recently claimed that numerous pardons issued by President Joe Biden are null and void because they were signed electronically with an autopen rather than by hand. However, Trump's allegations, publicized through his Truth Social platform, have been consistently debunked by BBC Verify, which found that Biden has, on several occasions, signed pardons by hand. Moreover, U.S. government documents retain the same presidential signature in the Federal Register regardless of signing method, a practice that has been upheld under both Trump and Biden administrations.Trump's statements suggest that Biden’s pardons lack validity since they were allegedly signed by an autopen. He asserted that, due to this, the pardons are "VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT," without providing specifics on which pardons he was referring to. Legal specialists confirmed that U.S. law does not recognize autopen signatures as invalid. They noted that an autopen was historically used by several past presidents, including George W. Bush, who issued a memo indicating that a president’s directive for a subordinate to sign a document suffices under law.Despite a prior report from CNN regarding Biden’s use of autopen for signing a federal aviation funding bill, the majority of pardons were physically signed. Biden was photographed signing pardons for non-violent offenders and marijuana possession in 2022. Trump appears to be drawing on the Oversight Project, linked to the Heritage Foundation, which claimed that a series of pardons on January 19 bore the same autopen signature, a claim that lacks solid backing.Furthermore, experts advise that any attempt by Trump to rescind Biden's pardons would challenge fundamental constitutional norms and would necessitate prosecuting previously pardoned individuals, raising complex legal issues. In summary, Trump’s assertion regarding Biden's use of autopen to void pardons fails to hold up under scrutiny as there is no legal precedent invalidating such acts. The controversy underscores long-standing practices in presidential document signing, ultimately leading to discussions on constitutional integrity and executive powers.
