Wait, what? An Executive Order can be legal and go into effect without a President actually signing it? A so-called “autopen signature” counts? EVEN WHEN THE PRESIDENT MAY NOT BE CAPABLE OF KNOWING WHAT HE’S “SIGNING”?
A Heritage Foundation investigation has discovered that the majority of official documents signed by President Joe Biden used the same autopen signature. The Oversight Project, which is an initiative within the conservative Heritage Foundation that investigates the government, announced, “We gathered every document we could find with Biden’s signature over the course of his Presidency. All used the same autopen signature except for the announcement that the former President was dropping out of the race last year. Here is the autopen signature,” the group said, attaching photo examples like these:
Autopen signatures are automatically produced by a machine, as opposed to an authentic, handwritten signature. This is a growing concern in the legal ethics community among others where obvious questions are being raised about the validity of such signatures.
Boy, am I a sap. It never occurred to me that an official Presidential signature on a bill or an Executive Order would be executed using one of these non-signature signatures, but this practice has been going on for a long time. Fox News Digital examined the signatures on PresidentTrump’s executive orders, which are often signed in public or in front of the media, during his first administration and second administration and found the signatures were also the same. Some sources have reported that autopen devices have been used at the White House as far back as the Truman Administration, but in previous Presidencies since then there were not justified doubts about whether the POTUS owning the signatures knew what he was signing.
The autopen revelation puts new emphasis on anecdotes like the one revealed in an interview by Speaker Johnson last year. He recounted that Biden didn’t remember signing an order freezing new liquid natural gas exports in 2024. “I walked out of that meeting with fear and loathing because I thought, ‘We are in serious trouble – who is running the country?’” Johnson said of the meeting.
The Oversight Project insists that investigators should determine “who controlled the autopen” during the Biden administration.
Gee, ya think?
“For investigators to determine whether then-President Biden actually ordered the signature of relevant legal documents, or if he even had the mental capacity to, they must first determine who controlled the autopen and what checks there were in place. Given President Biden’s decision to revoke Executive Privilege for individuals advising Trump during his first Presidency, this is a knowable fact that can be determined with the correct legal process,” the Oversight Project posted to Twitter/X.
As a result of these revelations, Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey sent a letter to the Department of Justice last week calling for an investigation into whether Biden’s “cognitive decline allowed unelected staff to push through radical policy without his knowing approval.” “Whoever controlled the autopen controlled the Presidency,” the Oversight Project concluded. I’d say that’s a fair statement.
The autopen should be banned by law from being used to establish laws and executive orders. President could do this with a stroke of the pen…a real one.
Ethics Alarms 
Autograph collectors have learned to distinguish an autopen from the real deal. Not only Presidents, but also astronauts and some actors have them.
Autopen signatures are not as prized or as valuable..and in the situation you’ve pointed out, pretty darn scary when it comes to laws being signed.
If Biden’s impairment was to the same degree that he’d sign anything set in front of him, the same way an autopen would, then there is very little practical distinction.
Even if Biden pressed the “apply signature” button, every time it was used, there’s still a big problem if the people in the room told him it was an ice cream dispenser.
The E-Sign Act makes electric signatures as valid as a paper signature. I bought a house five years ago while at work, by scribbling on my touchscreen.
I’ve also had a telemarketer E-Sign a life insurance application on my behalf. This happened through a certifying vendor but showed me none of the required parts to make such a thing valid. I asked for the evidence from said vendor, but I think it’ll take a lawsuit to see how it was forged.
More confirmation of my belief, stated in 2020, that Joe was our first sitting animatronic president. Who knows, maybe Disney was involved even back at the outset. Maybe we never even saw Joe. Maybe the stiff gate was a robotics problem.
I am not sure why this is mind blowing. Anyone who paid any attention expected this.
In other Biden-wasn’t-really-the-President news, I have seen posts pointing out that every Trump appearance has been in the White House, not the fake White House sets that Biden used. Did Biden even live in the White House? What was up with the tiny desk?