Wed Dec 03 04:42:58 UTC 2025: Here’s a summarized news article based on the provided text:
Trump Claims to Revoke Biden Pardons, Legal Experts Say It’s Not Possible
Washington D.C. – Former President Donald Trump has declared that he is revoking all pardons and commutations signed by President Joe Biden using an autopen, a mechanical device that replicates a signature. Trump announced the move on his social media platform, Truth Social, claiming the use of the autopen renders the documents “null, void, and of no further force or effect.”
However, legal experts are dismissing Trump’s claim, stating that there is no constitutional basis for a president to revoke pardons issued by a predecessor. Bernadette Miller, a constitutional law expert at Stanford University, told Al Jazeera that Trump’s declaration “has no legal effect,” and that pardons signed by autopen remain valid. Fact-checking website PolitiFact also cited an 1869 judicial ruling that once delivered, a pardon is final.
Biden issued a large number of acts of clemency during his term, including pardons by proclamation for entire classes of people, such as those convicted of violating a ban on gay sex in the military and those with federal marijuana offenses. It remains unclear exactly how many of these documents were signed using an autopen.
Trump has previously attacked Biden’s use of the autopen, suggesting it is evidence of the current president’s frailty. He has also claimed that preemptive pardons Biden issued to legislators investigating the January 6th Capitol attack are invalid due to the use of the device.
Notably, the use of autopens is not unique to Biden. Historical records show that presidents dating back to Thomas Jefferson have used similar devices to sign documents. Legal memos from 1929 and 2005 confirm the U.S. president does not have to sign documents by hand.