Newsmakers

The Autopen Is Mightier Than The Scorned?

The pardon pen is mightier than the conviction. Or the potential for conviction. Unless that pen in question is something called an autopen, or so contends The Donald.

What is an autopen?

An autopen is a device that affixes a person’s signature to documents in bulk so that an individual doing the signing can save time and energy in completing a particular task.

Mr. Trump told reporters on Sunday, March 17, that last-minute so-called blanket pardons issued by President Biden are not legal because they were signed by an autopen. Some of the pardons cited include preemptive pardons granted Dr. Anthony Fauci as well as to members of the January 6 Select Committee.

For several decades presidents of both parties have used autopens to sign documents for a variety of reasons without question as to their legality.

There’s no word as to whether the 1600 or so blanket pardons granted convicted J6 rioters were signed using autopens, or if they were in fact signed at all.

Published by Tandy Culpepper

I am a veteran broadcast journalist. I was an Army brat before my father retired and moved us to the deep South. I'm talkin' Lower Alabama and Northwest Florida, I graduated from Tate High School and got botha Bachelor's degree and Master's in Teaching English from the University of West Florida, I taught English at Escambia County High School for two years before getting my m's in Speech Pathology and Audiology from Auburn University. Following graduation, I did a 180 degree turn and moved to Birmingham where I began ny broadcasting career at WBIQ, Channel 10. There I was host of a weekly primetime half-hour TV program called Alabama Lifestyles. A year later, I began a stint as a television weathercaster and public affairs host. A year later, I moved to West Palm Beach, Florida and became bureau chief at WPTV, the CBS affiliate. Two years later, I moved to Greensboro, North Carolina where I became co-host of a morng show called AM Carolina. The next year, I moved cross-country and became co-host and story producer at KTVN-TV in Reno, Nevada. I also became the medical reporter for the news department. Three years later, I moved to Louisville, Kentucky and became host and producer of a morning show called today in WAVE Country at WAVE-TV, Channel 3, the NBC affiliate. Following three years there, I moved to Los Angeles and became senior correspondent at the Turner Entertainment Reportn, an internationally-syndicated entertainment entertainment news service owned by CNN. I went back to school afterwards and got an MFA in Creative Nonfiction at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. Oh, yes. I won a hundred thousand dollars on the 100 Thousand Dollar Pyramid, then hosted by Dick Clark.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *