It is hard to believe, but the autopen used by our presidents was first patented 222 years ago, in 1803. First to use it was Thomas Jefferson. Interestingly back then, it was originally known as the “polygraph machine,” copying out entire letters as one wrote them. Later called “the Robot” before simply becoming known as the “autopen,” what Jefferson used was quite different from what is used today. Some presidents depended on its use so extensively, such as John F. Kennedy, that it rendered an original signature extremely rare.
A question that has arisen about the autopen in modern times, however, is whether its use is constitutional to implement legislation. While a traveling George Bush became the first president to query this in 2005, due to the life-and-death urgency of the bill with which he was dealing—the Terri Schiavo bill—he opted to return to Washington and sign it personally rather than use the autopen. Thus, the issue has never been decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The unconstitutionality of autopen usage is based on the concept it is proxy signing, which is only acceptable if the mandate is met requiring the president to be present at such an event. The concern, obviously, is that such absence could lead to the autopen being used to circumvent presidential authority.
It has been revealed that President Joe Biden signed 97% of those documents requiring his signature using the autopen. His subsequent lack of knowledge about what he allegedly signed has been evident on several occasions.
While Biden’s administration heavily relied on the autopen, the issue goes broader. Not only is it not known if he were present when the autopen was used but, even if he were, based on the mental decline he suffered during his presidency, did he even know what was being signed since constitutional intent is required? Additionally, it has been reported that “rubber-stamped” autopen usage was witnessed by some Biden staff members.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said he knew Biden was not in charge when the president had no knowledge about an executive order he signed just three weeks earlier with his autopen. Johnson asked Biden about it—specifically why he had paused LNG exports to Europe, to which the then president denied doing so. Thus, Biden’s possible absence from such signings and/or his declining mental state has raised the issue of whether such documents—like his last minute pardons—are effective.
If this is the case, it probably explains why one of the few documents Biden personally signed was his withdrawal from the presidential election campaign—perhaps because it was worried by some Democrat party leaders he might later protest his withdrawal as not being valid.
But the question also arises if Biden were incapable of making such decisions, who then acted as the invisible president? It sounds like several different people may have played this role.
During Biden’s tenure, First Lady Jill repeatedly denied her husband was suffering any kind of mental decline. Yet we can now hear DNC Vice Chair David Hogg—who has really done his party no favors since taking office—admitting a dark truth recently on hidden camera. He tells us that Jill’s team was actually running the White House and that her chief of staff (Anthony Bernal) wielded “enormous power.”
The House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into the use of Biden’s autopen. It gave an end-of-May demand to some of those who may have been involved in serving as invisible presidents to agree to interview requests.
The Committee is pursuing the belief the autopen passed through many different hands. While members of Biden’s staff are suspect, so too is Senator Elizabeth Warren, although details are currently unavailable.
If only like the autopen of Jefferson’s day, the autopen of Biden’s day retained fingerprints!
Image from Grok.