minute here… Maybe I need to re-think my position!
The president cannot be a figurehead—he must personally sign off on all pardons. That, as we suspected, appears to be in doubt.
The truth is, I don’t think the autopen pardons are legally valid. That said, the issue will be tied up for years in the courts, and eventually will have to be ruled on by the Supreme Court. So it’s far from certain what will happen.
But this sets a really nasty precedent. In the future, anyone can say, “Yeah, but Biden did it.” And how was that not a legitimate defense? Because if Joe Biden is immune from following typical practices and did clearly illegal things with complete impunity, why am I convicted for a “creative” interpretation of law? I thought there was equal protection under the law!