President Donald Trump has announced on Truth Social that he has voided all pardons and commutations signed by his predecessor, Joe Biden, using an autopen, claiming the mechanical signature rendered the acts “null, void, and of no further force or effect.” However, legal experts are unified in stating that this declaration is not enforceable and has no legal effect under the US Constitution.
Biden had issued a record 4,245 acts of clemency during his four-year term, mainly as commutations, and was known for large-scale “pardons by proclamation” for classes of people, such as former service members convicted under the ban on gay sex and those with certain federal marijuana convictions. Trump’s declaration specifically targets these clemency acts, including those he previously claimed were issued preemptively to legislators like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who investigated the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
HEREBY DECLARED NULL AND VOID. 🖊️ pic.twitter.com/Kny518iShS
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 2, 2025
Constitutional law experts confirm that the US Constitution provides no mechanism for overturning pardons once they are finalized and delivered, a principle established in an 1869 judicial ruling. Furthermore, the Constitution does not mandate that a president must sign documents by hand, and presidents from Thomas Jefferson to Barack Obama have utilized mechanical or automated signing devices. Therefore, while Trump can revoke executive orders, the pardons and commutations signed by autopen remain legally valid and unaffected by his recent social media proclamation
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