President Biden’s use of the autopen, a tool widely employed to replicate signatures in business and government sectors, is far from being as ordinary as it would seem. Even when a president’s tenure ends, the pardons bestowed upon individuals remain unchallengeable, as per the Constitution and prevalent laws. However, Biden, in the concluding hours of his presidency, went on a pardon spree, unashamedly exploiting this loophole in regulation.
The controversy began when President Trump struck out on social media, stating that he no longer considered the pardons issued by his predecessor to be valid. The recipients of these pardons, regarded as adversarial by Trump, were given the benefit due to the usage of an autopen – a method that typically doesn’t raise eyebrows. But the way it was used by his predecessor led to its scrutinization.
It was the pardons afforded to the bipartisan House committee members, who had investigated the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, that particularly fired up Trump. His declaration questioned the credibility of the pardons, suggesting a baseless conspiracy theory about Biden’s misuse of power. The Constitution and case laws don’t offer any power to retract a pardon, making Trump’s declarations seem all the more outlandish.
Trump’s statement underscored his belief that the laws of the land should fall in line with his whims and fancies. It was an unsettling echo of his characteristic antidemocratic rhetoric and cast a harsh light on how Biden may have manipulated the system for his benefit. Trump’s thirst for retribution is well-known, and this seemed another attempt to discredit his political adversaries.
Trump unabashedly dismissed the pardons offered by Biden to what he termed as the ‘Unselect committee of Political Thugs,’ among others. Through a social media post, he declared these pardons void and null, invoking the alleged usage of an autopen as the cause. ‘Essentially, Biden did not oversee these pardons, nor did he care to learn about their justifications,’ he stated.
Using an autopen as a stand-in for the president’s signature is not novel; it was reportedly first implemented in 2011 when President Obama was in Europe. During that foreign visit, Obama desired his signature on a legislation extending the Patriot Act for another four years, resorting to the autopen’s assistance. Contrary to his predecessors, however, Biden’s administering of pardons using this method was profuse and aggressive.
When questioned about having ever engaged the use of an autopen himself, Trump affirmed its occasional use for mundane reasons, such as dispatching letters to young individuals. He mentioned the influx of correspondence from children and the ailing, suggesting that the autopen may have been utilized for expedience. ‘However, to use the autopen to sign pardons, as Biden did, is indisputably disgraceful,’ Trump added in conclusion.