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Autopen abuse is only the latest wrinkle in the now decades-old problems surrounding the presidential pardon power.
The Justice Department is now looking into whether President Joe Biden was sufficiently competent when he issued a handful of pardons in his final days in office; some even suggest that misuse of the infamous autopen allowed for others to slip through clemencies without involving Joe at all.
Biden in all “signed” over 4,000 pardons of some kind, many of them utterly rancid: from hundreds of commutations for vile bribe-takers, con artists and other sleazoids to letting literal child murderers dodge the death penalty.
What if anything did the president know about what “he” was doing?
No one doubts he chose to pardon son Hunter, and in fact all signs are that he truly signed that one himself; and he likely also intended to hand those get-out-jail-free cards to other family: siblings and in-laws James and his wife, Sara; his sister, Valerie, and her husband, John Owens; and his brother Francis — even if those got the autopen treatment.
But did he really opt to issue preemptive pardons to Dr. Anthony Fauci and Gen. Mark Milley?
Indeed, it’s not actually clear that the constitutional power extends to such “blank check” clemencies, rather than the traditional pardons for specific crimes or at least specific actions not yet charged.
On the autopen front, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is forcing the “politboro,” the inner circle of advisers who ran the White House as Joe slipped ever further, to testify under oath about decision-making in the final months, at least.
All this is separate from kosher-but-outrageous pardons, such as President Bill Clinton shameless clemencies, with hours left in his presidency, for his former business partner Susan McDougal, who was charged with contempt of court after refusing to testify against him, and for Marc Rich, an international fugitive whose wife had donated handsomely to the Clinton campaign and the Clinton Presidential Library.
That sleeze-fest was so notorious it was labeled “Pardongate.”
And, yes, some of President Donald Trump’s pardons are controversial, too, including the blanket forgiveness of all Jan. 6 Capitol Riot offenses.
Which points to why probing the Biden pardons really should be bipartisan: Whichever party holds the White House when a power is first abused, the other party will get a chance to catch up — and the rule of law deteriorates that much more.
If the Biden crew crossed any constitutional lines, the public needs to know so the practice can be quashed before it becomes a trend.