Now, if Congress were to pass a single piece of legislation nullifying every law enacted and signed by the outgoing president, I imagine that would create quite the Constitutional and legal uproar, to say nothing of what a public crisis of opinion and consternation it would generate.
President Trump on Friday did something similar, but perhaps not on such a sweeping and dramatic a scale, when he signed an executive order nullifying all executive orders issued by Joe Biden with his signature affixed by use of an autopen (pictured).
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On Truth Social, Trump proclaimed:
“I am hereby canceling 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.”
Oops, I forgot, every member of the previous Congress who voted for the previous president’s legislation must also be criminally charged under my Congressional scenario, given the Trumpian X argument.
Evidently, Trump means by his logic to include pardons issued by Joe Biden, though I believe the pardon he issued for his son Hunter was personally signed.
A president can certainly revoke or redo Executive Orders issued by a previous president in one-by-one fashion, but so far no president before Trump has tried the blanket approach. Whether he has the power to revoke autopen-signed pardons is another legal issue altogether.
In the case of Trump’s predecessor, Biden previously told the New York Times that he personally approved every pardon issued with an autopen signature. Trum p is evidently disputing that claim.
Trump’s action on Friday has all the earmarks of ending up before the Supreme Court, especially if he intends to reverse pardons issued with autopen signatures.
