Can Trump void Biden’s pardons?

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Joe Biden meets with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House on November 13, 2024 in Washington, DC

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The president boldly claimed he can undo his predecessor’s pardons. Should we believe him?

Tom Disalvo

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Published: Mar 17, 2025 08:53 pm

President Donald Trump declared in a recent social media post that the pardons granted by Joe Biden to those involved in investigating the 2021 Capitol Building insurrection were “void” and “vacant” because they were allegedly signed with an autopen. The president made the claim in response to Biden preemptively pardoning the Jan. 6 House select committee and others who testified before the panel, just one day before he left office in January, 2025.  

Trump wrote on Truth Social that the pardons his predecessor issued were “hereby declared void, vacant, and of no further force of effect, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen.” He also wrote that the Jan. 6 committee members “should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level.” Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger were among those on the investigative panel who were pardoned by Biden.

Trump’s declaration raised questions about Biden’s clemency powers and the legitimacy of autopen signatures, so how true is Trump’s claim that he can void presidential pardons?

Autopens have been used by former presidents for decades.

While Trump’s claim that Biden even used an autopen to issue the pardons is unsubstantiated — since his mode of granting them is not known — they would nonetheless remain valid even if he did use one. The autopen, a device used to replicate handwritten signatures, has been used by presidents for decades, beginning with Harry Truman and continued by John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

In fact, it was the lattermost president who ensured the use of an autopen by presidents would be as valid as a handwritten signature, with his Justice Department concluding at the time that “the president need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature” to official documents, including bills and pardons. “The president may sign a bill… by directing a subordinate to affix the president’s signature to such a bill, for example by autopen,” the Justice Department wrote of the practice at the time. 

Pardoning powers have very few limits, regardless of the use of an autopen. 

Even if Biden did use an autopen to grant the pardons, it wouldn’t be enough to undo his clemency powers. The Constitution gives the president the exclusive authority to grant clemency with very few limits, and as such, there are no Constitutional grounds for Trump to “void” Biden’s pardons, even if they were signed by autopen. These pardoning powers, and the mode by which they are granted, date back to 1929, when the Justice Department held that “it is wholly for the president to decide” the method by which a pardon is handed down. 

Trump doubled-down on the claim. 

Despite the baselessness of his Truth Social post, Trump doubled-down on the claim that pardons would be voided. After sharing the post, Trump told reporters on board Air Force One that while “it’s not my decision” whether Biden’s pardons are honored, he would “say that they’re null and void, because I’m sure Biden didn’t have any idea that it was taking place, and somebody was using an autopen to sign off and to give pardons.”

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