Picture this: It’s the final hours of Joe Biden’s presidency, and he’s rushing to sign a stack of pardons before Donald Trump takes office. But instead of physically signing each one, he uses an autopen—a machine that replicates his signature. Sounds like something out of a political thriller, right? Well, now Trump is calling foul, claiming those pardons don’t count because Biden didn’t sign them himself.
So, did Biden really use an autopen? Yep. And is that actually a big deal? Well, that depends on who you ask.
What’s the deal with the autopen?
If you’ve never heard of an autopen before, don’t worry—you’re not alone. It’s basically a fancy machine that mimics a person’s signature. And here’s the thing: Presidents have been using it for decades. Barack Obama, George W. Bush, even Harry Truman—yep, all of them used an autopen at some point to sign official documents.
But not everyone loves the idea. Some argue it feels too impersonal for something as serious as a presidential pardon. It’s one thing to use an autopen for a routine letter or a bill signing when the president is overseas. But pardoning people? That’s a deeply personal decision, and some believe it should require an actual, handwritten signature from the president himself.
Source: YouTube
Is Trump right about this?
Honestly? Probably not. Legal experts are already saying this argument doesn’t hold much weight. The U.S. Department of Justice has ruled before that an autopen signature is totally legit. In fact, in 2011, Obama became the first president to use an autopen to sign a bill into law while he was traveling in France. Congress even questioned it at the time, but the DOJ confirmed that as long as the president authorizes the use of the autopen, it counts.
And let’s be real—do we really think Biden was going to sit there manually signing every single pardon in his last moments as president? Given how common this practice is, it’s not exactly shocking that he used the autopen.
What happens now?
Well, Trump says he’s looking into ways to challenge the pardons, but let’s be honest—overturning them would be a long shot. Once a presidential pardon is issued, it’s basically set in stone. Courts have rarely, if ever, undone one.
That said, this whole controversy isn’t really about the autopen. It’s about politics. Trump and his allies are using this as a way to undermine Biden’s final decisions in office. Whether or not anything comes of it legally, expect to hear about this for a while—because if there’s one thing Trump knows how to do, it’s keep a story alive.
