Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that her office is initiating a review of former President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen for presidential pardons, following a fiery new report from the House Oversight Committee questioning their legality.
The committee’s report alleges that executive actions signed by autopen without documented written proof of Biden’s direct approval should be deemed “void.”
This explosive claim has immediately drawn a response from Bondi, who stated on X that her team has “already initiated a review of the Biden administration’s reported use of autopen for pardons.”
This move escalates a long-running political “friction point” centered on the mechanical signing device. President Donald Trump has loudly raged that Biden’s autopen-signed pardons should be “VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT.”
The Oversight report, spearheaded by Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY), came alongside allegations of a “cover-up” concerning Biden’s health and record-keeping, zeroing in on clemency grants—including broad pardons for non-violent drug offenses and family members in his final days.
The GOP Claim: The new report claims that the White House failed to record Biden’s approval for certain autopen-signed actions, saying this calls the “validity of all pardons” into question.
The Legal Counter: Legal scholars have previously pointed out that other presidents have used the autopen, and a 2005 Justice Department opinion supported the President directing a subordinate to affix his signature, provided the decision to approve was his. Biden previously stated, “I made every single” clemency decision.
The Democrat Defense: House Oversight Democrats dismissed the investigation as a “sham,” releasing a counter-report asserting that “not a single witness could corroborate Republican claims” that the autopen was used without Biden’s full knowledge and authorization.
As Bondi launches her review, the battle over a signature machine has become a major constitutional and political clash, challenging the validity of thousands of executive actions.
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