US President Donald Trump announced plans to annul all executive orders signed by his predecessor, Joe Biden, using an autopen, a device that replicates signatures. Trump made the declaration on his social media platform, Truth Social, asserting that the practice was unlawful and contending that Biden did not authorize its use.
Trump has long accused Biden of being increasingly incapacitated during the latter part of his presidency, suggesting that significant decisions were no longer under Biden’s direct control. He claimed that aides may have utilized the autopen to forge Biden’s signature on documents the president did not personally review. “Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect,” Trump stated. He emphasized that “the Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States,” and insisted that he is cancelling all executive orders not directly signed by Biden due to what he described as illegal operations of the autopen.
The use of autopens by past presidents has been a common practice when they are unable to sign documents in person. A 2005 Justice Department opinion affirmed the validity of autopen signatures as long as they are authorized by the sitting president. Critics of Biden pointed to his late-term use of the clemency power, which resulted in a substantial number of pardons and commutations, questioning the legitimacy of these decisions if they were signed without direct oversight.
Legal experts highlight that while a sitting president can revoke a predecessor’s executive orders, there is no established procedure for reversing pardons once they have been granted. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee has requested the Justice Department to investigate Biden’s use of the autopen, with Attorney General Pam Bondi confirming that the matter is under review. The committee noted that it could not find definitive documentation proving that Biden had authorized the device for all actions it was used to sign.
Earlier in the year, Trump made headlines by replacing Biden’s portrait in the White House with an image of an autopen, further underscoring his stance on the issue. As this situation develops, it remains to be seen how it will impact the broader political landscape and ongoing discourse regarding presidential authority and executive actions.
