How Bulletproof Are Joe Biden’s Pardons?

American Thinker ^ | 21 Jun, 2026 | John Green

[MtnClimber]

Autopen pardons can’t possibly be constitutional. Why not test the theory on a few high-profile malefactors?

Near the end of Joe Biden’s incompetence, corruption, and dementia extravaganza, thousands of pardons were issued — many for unstated crimes. Most weren’t done with a pen in a human hand, as our founders intended. The were done with an autopen — a machine that can imitate a human signature. Given Joey “SoftServe’s” mental state, there’s ample reason to question whether the machine-signed pardons were a valid reflection of the president’s will, such as it was.

On December 2, 2025, after the magnitude of the autopen signing frenzy became apparent, President Trump declared Biden’s autopen orders invalid — not because Biden lacked the authority to issue them, but because there was no evidence that he even ordered them — no audio recordings, no decision logs, no witness affidavits. All of those pardons may have actually been issued by faceless bureaucrats, whose only power was access to the machine which could hold a pen and imitate Joe Biden’s illegible scrawl.

The Hunter Biden pardon reinforces that theory. It was different from Joe’s other pardons because it was signed by the actual hand of the president — a strong indication that it actually represented the will of the Article II chief executive. Apparently, Joe cared more about the pardon of his son than the thousands of others issued by his office. Is that because he didn’t even know about many of the others?

So what changed after President Trump declared his predecessor’s pardons null and void? Nothing. None of the monsters released by Biden has been re-arrested. None of the Biden cronies who escaped justice has shown contrition, nor begged for forgiveness. It’s as if Trump’s order means nothing, because the matter hasn’t been adjudicated

[oldtech]

It’s questionable why everything signed with an autopen isn’t either automatically denied or at least checked out thoroughly. Joe Biden is proof enough of that.

[FrankRizzo890]

Can it be accurately determined which ones he really DID sign, and which ones were autopenned?

Also, we would need a determination on “Joe says to do it, but isn’t there to do it, so he tells someone to autopen it”. Because you KNOW that Joe would say that he directed ANY pardon that is attacked.

[PeterPrinciple]

It’s questionable why everything signed with an autopen isn’t either automatically denied or at least checked out thoroughly. Joe Biden is proof enough of that.

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and that is why Trump signs things in public with a flair and gives away the pen.

[Svartalfiar]

There are two issues here

1) auto pen
2) pardon without a conviction

Pardon without a conviction. Meh, all a pardon should really require is the crime. Otherwise the DA/etc can just hold charges to try and outlast a President. Although Presidents do overuse this power sometimes.

Autopen I fully agree. Hell, even the President shouldn't be using an Autopen for anything official. If it's not hand-signed, it's not an actual pardon. Whether he authorized the autopen or not.