What is autopen, which Trump is accusing the Biden administration of using to sign pardons?

The pardons of the Biden administration are "null and void" in the eyes of President Donald Trump. He made this assertion recently through a post on social media. At the center of this controversy is autopen, a machine with titular position in the White House that would detract legitimacy from the presidential pardon documents issued by Joe Biden.

What exactly is this machine? An autopen is an electromechanical device that accurately replicates a person's signature. It is commonly used in government offices, corporations and by public figures to sign documents in large volumes without the need for the signer's physical presence.

It consists of a mechanical arm holding a pen that perfectly emulates a signature pattern entered into its electronic system. For it to work, the original signature holder must enter the signature into the system. Once in operation, the mechanical arm will draw the pattern on the document laid out on the tray.

Introduced at the White House by Eisenhower

Autopen was introduced to the White House by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, although in its early years of use it performed much less important functions than it does today. Initially, the device was only used to sign the president's correspondence with citizens. Eisenhower's office responded to thousands of letters written by everyday Americans, and they all bore the president's signature thanks to autopen.

President Barack Obama was the first of all to allow the signing of laws via autopen. In 2011, during a trip to Europe, the White House allowed the use of an autopen to sign the Patriot Act. Despite criticism from the opposition, it did so again later.

Legality of the issue

While President George W. Bush did not sign any laws with the help of an autopen, he was the first to wonder about the legality of doing so. He received a positive response on the matter, which detailed that the president can order a subordinate to affix a presidential signature to a document.

In 2011, the Democrat-led Department of Justice also assured that the use of the device is legal. The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion that year stating that an autopen can be used to sign laws if authorized in advance by the president. This was based on the interpretation that the U.S. Constitution does not require that the signature be manual, only that the president approve it.

The Constitution in Article I, Section 7 states that the president must "sign" laws before they go into effect. It does not specify that it must be done manually. Despite this, it must be understood that the autopen is a device that came about long after the original drafting of the Constitution, but never has a government bothered to amend this section.

The case of Biden

In the latter case, the question centers on whether an autopen is also valid for the signing of presidential pardons. Never before in the history of the country have there been specific cases on record where presidential pardons were signed with the help of this automated process.