Legal Analysts React to Trump’s Plan to Terminate Biden Executive Orders

[Thiệu Ngô]

President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he is terminating all executive orders allegedly signed by former President Joe Biden using an autopen, which he claims accounts for approximately 92 percent of Biden's executive actions.

By Adeola Adeosun

Legal analysts disputed the validity of Trump's claims, with Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan under the Barack Obama administration, telling Newsweek that autopen signatures are valid and the signing method is irrelevant to executive order legitimacy.

Why It Matters

Trump's declaration comes after he previously ordered an investigation into Biden's alleged use of an autopen, which is a machine used to automate signatures on documents.

The White House previously said the president rolled back dozens of Biden's executive orders after he returned to office in January. If Biden's executive orders are deemed invalid, the implications could extend to presidential pardons—including those granted to Biden family members and political figures—potentially triggering challenges based on due process and the permanence of clemency.

The controversy could also establish stricter documentation requirements for future administrations, despite the fact that automated signature devices have been used since Thomas Jefferson's era and by multiple presidents, including Trump himself.

What To Know

On Friday afternoon, Trump wrote on Truth Social: "Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect. The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States. The Radical Left Lunatics circling Biden around the beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office took the Presidency away from him."

He added: "I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally. Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

According to The American Presidency Project (APP), Biden signed 162 executive orders during his presidency, though the exact number using an autopen remains unspecified.

Legal analysts have disputed the validity of Trump's argument. McQuade told Newsweek on Friday that "any president has the power to revoke any executive order of his predecessor, regardless of how it was signed," adding that "the auto-pen issues is irrelevant. Auto-pen signatures are valid."

However, Representative James Comer, a Kentucky Republican and chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has characterized the situation differently, writing on X on Friday that "the Biden Autopen Presidency is one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history" and alleging that "Biden's inner circle sought to deceive the public, conceal his condition, and take unauthorized executive actions using the autopen—actions that are now invalid."

The Department of Justice (DOJ) stated in 2005 that "the President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill he approves and decides to sign in order for the bill to become law."

Trump himself has acknowledged using an autopen for what he described as "only very unimportant papers" such as letters.

In June, the president claimed that Biden's aides used the autopen to carry out "radical" policies. However, Biden responded: "Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn't is ridiculous and false."

Ed Whelan, a distinguished senior fellow and Antonin Scalia chair in constitutional studies at the Ethics & Public Policy Center, wrote on X on Friday: "Trump is free to revoke all of Biden's executive orders, whether or not Biden personally signed them. But he doesn't have the same freedom with respect to 'anything else' (e.g., bills enacted by Congress, pardons) that Biden directed be signed by autopen."

He wrote in another post: "Just a reminder that DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel in 2005 issued an opinion that the president may 'sign' a bill (within the meaning of the governing constitutional provision) by directing a subordinate to affix the president's signature to the bill, including by autopen. (The opinion confirmed advice that I had given in 2002 as principal deputy in OLC.)"

Attorney Aaron Parnas wrote on X on Friday: "Joe Biden can't be charged with perjury. He never made any statements under oath. If lying was the only element of perjury, Trump would be spending a lifetime in prison right now."