An energy activist group raised the question on Wednesday of whether President Joe Biden personally signed some executive orders that have his signature. Founder & Executive Director for Power the Future, Daniel Turner, spoke with The National News Desk’s Geoff Harris to discuss whether Biden personally signed certain executive orders during his presidency. Power The Future, an organization with a stated purpose of highlighting work people in the energy industry do, published a about actions Biden took that affected the energy industry.
The group claimed he never explained the orders, which allegedly indicates the possibility that ghostwriters and autopens, or machines producing signatures, created the documents. “Despite their massive consequences for American energy producers, workers, and consumers, President Biden made no public comment, on camera or to press, about any of these actions,” Power the Future said. “This lack of public acknowledgment begs the question of whether these orders were auto-penned by eco-left policy by ghostwriters?” The organization used a January executive order, labeled an order on “advancing United States leadership in artificial intelligence infrastructure,” as an example.
Power The Future claimed Biden never spoke about it, but he in fact released a statement on the order the same day it was issued. The group also pointed to a 2021 executive order that set a policy of balancing the production of emissions with the reduction of them throughout the economy by 2050. The National News Desk could not identify any comments made by Biden on the order, but the White House discussed it in a “fact sheet,” and the General Services Administration issued a statement on it.
Of course, presidents can sign executive orders without commenting on them. The idea of Biden using an autopen surfaced in March, when President Donald Trump claimed some of his predecessor’s orders were invalid due to the alleged use of an autopen. There is no evidence Biden used any such machine for executive orders and pardons, however.
And if he did employ an autopen, legal experts reportedly the BBC, no law would invalidate the signatures. The Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Office of Legal Counsel also wrote in a 2005 for former President George W. Bush’s counsel in 2005 that presidents do not need to "personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature” to legislation in order for the bill to become law. "You have asked whether, having decided to approve a bill, the President may sign it, within the meaning of Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution, by directing a subordinate to affix the President’s signature to it, for example by autopen.
This memorandum confirms and elaborates upon our earlier advice that the President may sign a bill in this manner," the DOJ office said. Have questions, concerns or tips? Send them to Ray at .
