It should go without saying: only the elected President of the United States should be signing laws, executive orders, and pardons. That’s not a radical position—it’s basic constitutional order. But somehow, under the Biden administration, even that line got blurred beyond recognition.
That’s why Rep. Addison McDowell of North Carolina just introduced the BIDEN Act—the “Ban on Inkless Directives and Executive Notarizations Act of 2025.” Its mission is simple: stop the use of autopen devices for signing vital presidential documents. In plain English, it stops unelected staffers from wielding the powers of the Oval Office with the push of a button.
And yes, this is a direct response to the mess left behind by Joe Biden’s presidency—a presidency that was marked more by confusion and delegation than leadership and accountability. “The American people elect a President to run the country, not a cabal of woke staffers,” McDowell said in his statement. And he’s right.
Let’s not forget what the autopen is. It’s a machine designed to reproduce the president’s signature automatically. While it may sound convenient, it becomes a constitutional nightmare when it’s used to sign laws, executive orders, or even pardons without the president physically present or mentally aware of what’s being signed. It’s one thing to use it for ceremonial letters. It’s another entirely to use it to move the full weight of the federal government.
And yes, the Biden administration did just that.
This isn’t some wild conspiracy. In May 2023, Biden used an autopen to sign the debt ceiling bill while he was overseas in Japan. That alone raised serious questions. Who was directing the White House while the Commander-in-Chief was thousands of miles away, penless and possibly unaware? The Constitution vests executive power in the president, not in anonymous aides with access to a robotic hand.
Let’s be honest: the Biden presidency was a shell operation. America didn’t get a president—it got a committee. And the use of autopen technology to sign off on major national decisions only confirmed what many Americans already suspected: that the man in the White House wasn’t the one in charge.
Biden, of course, tried to defend himself. “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency,” he said recently. “Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.” But that statement doesn’t square with the reality Americans watched unfold. A president who rarely took questions, who often seemed lost in his own sentences, and who let unelected staffers dictate policy and messaging? No, we weren’t imagining things.
And now, Rep. McDowell is doing the hard work of restoring constitutional clarity. His bill doesn’t just ban future use of autopen devices for critical presidential acts—it also declares that no bill, executive order, or pardon signed in violation of the law, even prior to this act, may be considered to “have any force or effect.” That’s a bold move—and a necessary one.
Because this isn’t just about Joe Biden. It’s about the future of the presidency.
If we allow the executive branch to be managed by faceless technocrats armed with digital pens, we’re no longer a constitutional republic. We’re something else—something far more dangerous. A government where decisions are made by unaccountable staffers behind closed doors, while the figurehead president nods off in the next room.
This is a line in the sand moment. Either we reaffirm that the President alone holds the authority to sign and enact laws—or we admit that we’ve traded away self-government for bureaucratic convenience.
The left will howl, of course. They’ll say it’s petty. They’ll say it’s unnecessary. That’s because they’re perfectly comfortable with a system where the bureaucracy runs the show—as long as it aligns with their agenda.
But conservatives know better. We believe in the Constitution. We believe in accountability. And we believe that when the American people elect a president, they deserve a leader—not a rubber stamp.
Rep. McDowell’s BIDEN Act is one of those rare pieces of legislation that’s both principled and practical. It protects the integrity of the presidency, restores proper checks and balances, and ensures that our nation is led by someone who is actually doing the job—not just signing off on it with a machine.
It’s time to end the era of the autopen presidency. America deserves better.