Trump's Autopen Attack: A Legal and Logical Muddle
USASat Nov 29 2025
President Trump has been on a mission to question the validity of actions taken by Joe Biden during his presidency. He has claimed that Biden used an autopen to sign documents and that this makes those actions illegal. Trump has even gone so far as to say that he will cancel all executive orders and other actions that were not directly signed by Biden.
But does Trump have the legal authority to do this? The answer is not clear. The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel has said that a president does not need to personally sign a document for it to be valid. This means that even if Biden used an autopen, his actions would still be legal.
Trump has also claimed that Biden was not involved in the autopen process and that if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury. But Biden has publicly disputed this, saying that he made all decisions as president and calling Republicans who have suggested otherwise liars.
Trump has been fixated on Biden's use of the autopen for some time. In March, he suggested that Biden's use of the tool showed that he wasn't in charge while in the White House and that his actions were null and void. But legal experts have said that this is not the case.
Trump has also ordered an investigation into Biden's use of the autopen and its supposed links to the former president's cognitive decline. But this investigation has not found any evidence to support Trump's claims.
In the end, it seems that Trump's attack on Biden's use of the autopen is more about politics than it is about the law. While it may be true that Biden used an autopen to sign documents, this does not make his actions illegal. And even if it did, Trump does not have the legal authority to cancel them.
https://localnews.ai/article/trumps-autopen-attack-a-legal-and-logical-muddle-c4d739f2
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questions
What role does political rhetoric play in the interpretation of legal and constitutional issues surrounding the Autopen?
What evidence supports Trump's assertion that Biden was not involved in the Autopen process?
How does the Justice Department's 2005 ruling on the use of the autopen affect Trump's claims?
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