Is Obama ‘Signing’ Patriot Act From France Using ‘Autopen Machine’ Legal?
- Posted on May 27, 2011 at 7:48am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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A portable autopen machine.
Congress on Thursday passed a four-year extension of post-Sept. 11 powers to search records and conduct roving wiretaps in pursuit of terrorists. Votes taken in rapid succession in the Senate and House came after lawmakers rejected attempts to temper the law enforcement powers to ensure that individual liberties are not abused.
Following the 250-153 evening vote in the House, the legislation to renew three terrorism-fighting authorities headed for the president’s signature with only hours to go before the provisions expire at midnight.
With Obama currently in France, the White House said the president would use an autopen machine that holds a pen and signs his actual signature. It is only used with proper authorization of the president. Minutes before the midnight deadline, the White House said Obama had signed the bill.
But using a machine to sign a major piece of legislation may raise some questions about its legality. Or, better put, may raise questions about if the bill is officially signed into law. The answer, according to the Office of Legal Counsel, is “yes.”
ABC News explains:
Jay Wexler, a Boston University law professor and author of “The Odd Clauses: Understanding the Constitution Through Ten of Its Most Curious Provisions,” says the constitutionality of using an autopen was confirmed in a thorough 2005 Office of Legal Counsel opinion.
Here’s the relevant passage written by then-Deputy Attorney General Howard C. Nielson:
“We examine the legal understanding of the word ‘sign’ at the time the Constitution was drafted and ratified and during the early years of the Republic. We find that, pursuant to this understanding, a person may sign a document by directing that his signature be affixed to it by another. … Reading the constitutional text in light of this established legal understanding, we conclude that the President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill to sign it within the meaning of Article I, Section 7 [of the Constitution.]“
Autopen machines have long been the center of controversy, like in 2010 when Mitt Romney was accused of using one to sign books:
“Failure to sign this legislation poses a significant risk to U.S. national security,” White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said in a statement. “As long as Congress approves the extension, the President will direct the use of the autopen to sign it.”
And he did. Early this morning the bill became law — via a piece of machinery.
And just in case you want to auto-sign your own documents, you currently have four days left to bid on such a machine on eBay.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
UPDATE:
Gawker has some interesting highlights of auto-sign history:
- 1945: Harry Truman is thought to have been the first sitting president to use the autopen with any regularity. You can find examples, like this autopen-signed thank-you note, for sale on eBay.
- 1961: President Kennedy uses the autopen for nearly any signature that wasn’t of significance. To learn more, check out Charles Hamilton’s 1965 book, The Robot That Helped to Make a President, the “most in-depth reference guide for the different proxy signatures produced by the autopen machines used by President John F. Kennedy.”
- 1988: Vice President Dan Quayle is confronted by ABC’s Sam Donaldson about a letter he sent to a judge asking for GOP fundraiser Stephen Goot, convicted on racketeering charges in his role in fixing DUIs, to be moved to a cushier prison. Quayle pleaded the “autopen defense,” saying a staffer must have the signed the letter with the machine without his knowledge. It’s the second time he uses that excuse.
- 1996: In his 2004 book My Life, Bill Clinton recalls: “In 1996, the children of one of my father’s sisters came for the first time to our annual family Christmas party at the White House and brought me a gift: the condolence letter my aunt had received from her congressman, the great Sam Rayburn, after my father died. It’s just a short form letter and appears to have been signed with the autopen of the day, but I hugged that letter with all the glee of a six-year-old boy getting his first train set from Santa Claus.”
- 2004: Then defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld finds himself at the center of a White House PR nightmare, when it comes out that he’d used an autopen to sign his name to condolence letters sent to relatives of soldiers sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. At first denying it, Rumsfeld then admitted, “While I have not individually signed each one, in the interest of ensuring expeditious contact with grieving family members, I have directed that in the future I sign each letter.”
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Comments (176)
jacobstroubles
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:42amSo this would be any different from most everything else he’s done in what way?
Report Post »He doesnt care what‘s legal and what’s not legal…doenst anybody get this yet?
packrbackr
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:34amThe machine at least has more personality
Report Post »let us prey
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:28amThe machine has more integrity and personality. I bet it can make better decisions too.
Report Post »Dio fan
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 2:15pmNow if we could only take the brains out of the machine and put them in 0bama’s head.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 5:55pmThose aren’t scars on the back of his head. They are zippers. Used for quick inserts and removals.
Report Post »Lone Ranger
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:23amNow, Obama isn’t even mailing it in. When will the Obama android come online? At least if a robot made random decisions, it would be right 50% of the time. Obama can only DREAM of such success!
Report Post »jim
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:23amYes, paint some lips on it, some eyes… have it repeal Obamacare and pass a budget.
Report Post »scoter
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:20amThe REPUBLICAN are giving OBAMA every thing he wont’s
Report Post »quicker
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:20amI worked on a farmin New york when I was a kid.An old lady owned the farmand her faverate saying was (Be the job big or small do it right or not at all)Obama your are not doing your job right .
Report Post »bigjack940
Posted on May 28, 2011 at 11:38amSorry, he is doing his job. And I don’t mean ocupying the white house either. HIS JOB, as you put it, is to fundamentally change everything about this country. Now, tell me hes not doing his job?
Report Post »stinkybisquit
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:16amHook it up to the teleprompter: it’ll embarrass the U.S. less, have a more agreeable personality, and we can unplug it. It’s a better deal than the Golfer-In-Chief.
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:16amVery few things this president has done has been legal. So this is nothing new. I can’t believe someone that hates America so much has been allowed to stay in the highest office, much less the Country. This man has no shame. I still can’t believe that he won after his wife said that she was finally proud of AMERICA. If he loses this election does that mean the she will not be proud of AMERICA anymore?
Report Post »OhSuzieQ
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 9:01amWho gives a rats ass what she says!!
Report Post »Mil Mom
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 7:22pmHeavyduty
Report Post »I still can’t believe that he won after his wife said that she was finally proud of AMERICA. If he loses this election does that mean the she will not be proud of AMERICA anymore?
**************
We can only hope and pray!
Texas Grasshopper
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:15am( couple years for now ) Constution ? Rule of Law ? Freedom ? Personal Responsibility ? ….yes Grandson …Grandpa was alive to see that …yes ..I still remember when folks lived with freedom …shhhh…dont talk to loudly ….oh crap ……
Report Post »thecrow
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:15amWe threw out the Constitution with the PATRIOT Act because we changed the Constitution, not by two-thirds in this body voting for it and not by three-fourths of the state but by a scared 51 percent who threw out their liberties. They said make me safe. I want to be safe. I’m afraid, make me safe, but they gave up their liberties.
- Sen. Rand Paul
http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/are-you-afraid/
Report Post »Mr. Oshawott
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 10:39am@TheCrow
To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin: “Those who give up their freedoms for a little bit of safety deserves neither freedom nor safety.”
Report Post »Grapeknutz
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:15amIs this not typical of dims to sign it without reading it?
Report Post »southernpatriot
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:06amMakes you wonder if BHO has an auto-think machine because his brain certainly doesn’t work!!
Report Post »Dio fan
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 2:12pmHe does have a machine that thinks for him…It’s his teleprompter :)
Report Post »m r 2 dux
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:04amWhy worry about this now when everything Maobama has been involved in since he first came on the scene has been illegal. I still want to see where all his campaign $$ came from and where the 1BILLION he will spend on this election is coming from. Pay no attention to what the right hand is doing—focus on the left hand.
Report Post »prmermen
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 9:44amTAX Payers
Report Post »David, the Constitutional Libertarian
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:03amI think this is a great idea. Obama should just stay over where ever he is. Let us hook the machine up to say Rand Paul’s office or somethin.
Report Post »smak
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:02amHell yeah it’s legal!
Report Post »NOBALONEY
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:00amPresident could just stay on a continuing global trip. His Czars, and Department heads will rule, and the congress can appear normal by passing a bill or two, and the President can sign and rule in remote areas of the world.
Report Post »staythecourse
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 4:30pmThat IS his plan!
Report Post »Mil Mom
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 6:19pmNobaloney:
Report Post »the President can sign and rule in remote areas of the world.
*******************
Maybe this is his reaction to HomeLand Security raising the threat level after he killed Bin Laden, If they can’t find him, who cares what happens to the rest of us.
threecats407
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:00amGood. With luck he can now stay in his bedroom all day
Report Post »Whostolemypig
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 9:03amCouple the Auto Pen with the Rubber Stamp that congress uses. The we won’t need anyone in Washington.
Report Post »Outlaw_Josey_Wales
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 7:59amDid the autopen get the date right?
Report Post »David, the Constitutional Libertarian
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:05amLOL, the most transparent president evah! He is so transparent, he has no clothes!
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 9:40amIs the auto pen left handed too????
Report Post »ComeAndTakeThis
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 7:58amShould of had his teleprompter sign it.
Report Post »MidWestMom
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 7:57amDebating the “auto pen” is way down on my list of priorities. Right now we have bigger fish to fry.
Report Post »cthompson44
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 7:57amnext thing you know we’ll have an auto elect machine.
Report Post »Outlaw_Josey_Wales
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:05amObama is working on that.
Report Post »NSDQ
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 10:04amUnder the radar of course
Report Post »BJColter Country Music Iconoclast
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 7:56amSince when has “legal” ever been an issue with the head Comrade? Hey, I’ll see you on Sunday, tornado victims, I just want to do my thing here with my fellow bolsheviks. I’m sick of it, and wrote a great tune, just check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXvRDmM5Zx4
Report Post »forestnomad
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 11:30amStill peddling that ****** song?
Report Post »cthompson44
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 7:54amnext thing you know we’ll have an auto elect machine where people having to vote will be irrelevant.
Report Post »tower7femacamp
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:02amwe already do, look into the Nevada Senate election
Report Post »or Ron Pauls New Hampshire Primary against McPain.
heavyduty
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:19amWe already have that machine. It’s called independents, illegals, dead people, and UNIONS.
Report Post »OhSuzieQ
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:54amSinista MACE
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:36am
NOTHING this Criminal Administration does is legal.
The Entire Presidency is a sham.
This man is a traitor, a sabotuer, and should be impeached, tried, and summarily executed for treason
I so do agree with you…200%
Report Post »Mil Mom
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 6:11pmHad many of them in 2008 it was called ACORN, During the JFK Presidential campaign it was known as the “Chicago Machine” and during the 2012 election, it will be what we least expect if we’re not careful!
Report Post »In 2004 there were more votes counted than there were residents of voting age in OH, but nobody ever followed up, and just ask Al Frankin how necessary actual voters were to his election.
SuperSuineg
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 7:53amlazy as* BhO need to get to work…
Report Post »tower7femacamp
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:00amThanks Michelle Backmann
WE LOVE YOU and your Un Patriot act
Obama and you can kiss and make up now….
Report Post »IvanK
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:00amShopping, drinking, spending millions on “the 24 hour party” is waaaay more important for El Duce & Co. Hundreds dead in the US after the most devastating outbreak of tornados and El Duce says, “We’re looking out for ya”… Meanwhile, he and MOOchelle are getting their drink and their snack on!
Report Post »tower7femacamp
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:01amIs the Un-Patriot Act legal ?????
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:01amJust read it after he has finished signing it and make sure he hasn‘t slipped something in that Congress didn’t vote on. After all, this administration has the prize for illusion, oh I’m sorry, transparency.
Report Post »Creestof
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:05amI wonder if it has a meter on it to show how often it has been used? If not, I’d have some fun with it. I’d have dozens of statements with his signature below them, like:
“I admit I am not trustworthy around farm animals when no one is looking.”
“It is a toss up as to who is dumber between Biden and myself.”
“Yes, I prefer my hand over Michelle.”
“I wish you Right-wingers would get a candidate worth a darn…I want outta here!”
“How do I spell relief? B-A-R-N-E-Y F-R-A-N-K …everytime we get behind closed doors.”
“Do I think Palin would make a good president? Oh…maybe 3 weeks out of 4…if you know what I mean.”
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:12amIVANK, and you can bet it isn’t on the healthy list either. Of course, with Michelle, she is the exception to her rules – it’s the rest of us who are eating like “royalty”.
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:14amCREESTOF, now that was funny! Thanks (and I even agree with 100% of them).
Report Post »stinkybisquit
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:18amSince when does anything they do have to be “legal?”
Report Post »Sinista MACE
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 8:36amNOTHING this Criminal Administration does is legal.
The Entire Presidency is a sham.
This man is a traitor, a sabotuer, and should be impeached, tried, and summarily executed for treason.
Report Post »Professional Infidel
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 9:07amis this like a teleprompter?? typical. :|“ Worthless”
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 9:10amAnd so it continues; the POTUS is too ever loving lazy to bother to be home to sign the bill and then with a illegal means and method for a illegal act to go into extention of the unconstitutional law…so who will start signing things under the claimed visage of the POTUS when he is out of office and such?
Report Post »jb.kibs
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 9:27am.. you‘re telling me you couldn’t use that as a CNC machine and copy signatures?
Report Post »GIDEON612
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 9:43amI find it to be a device that needs to be destroyed or banned in any form of government office. It is useful in some cases of business, but that is now outdated. Just reading the ability of using it as an excuse when it is convenient is argument enough for its removal. Everyone is accountable for their own actions.
Report Post »If they continue to use and you have set up template for yourself you have made yourself responsible and are accountable. Just look at identity theft.
TomFerrari
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 9:45amBHO: “Legal?“ ”I decide what’s legal!“ ”Don’t you know who I am?!”
“I don’t need no stinking Constitution. All it does is get in my way and make more work for me.”
“If it hadn’t been for that confounded thing, I’d have created a newer and better Socialist Democracy a year ago!”
“I’d have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddlin kids! And your dog Scooby.”
Seriously, though, this guy thinks THE LAW IS A BLUNT WEAPON for his use. He sees it as a tool to force people to his will. He sees it as an object that gets in his way when it is used by others.
They believe their own lies. (Which is actually a weakness on their side.)
We conservatives just have to stop REACTING and get PROACTIVE!!
We have to spend time and money on national marketing campaigns online, in print, and on television, on HOW TO SAVE MEDICARE. (entitlements) We need to EDUCATE the public on the REALITIES that MEDICARE IS DEAD IF WE DON’T DO SOMETHING! If we do something, we can save it, otherwise, NOBODY will get ANYTHING! The libs and socialists have been LEADING the conversation, repeatedly. WE MUST LEAD. Once the public forms an opinion, it is harder to change. We need to reach them BEFORE they form an opinion!
Report Post »thegrassroots
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 10:25amBHO Is ILLEGAL – Period! The Resident Can See Prison From The White House!
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 10:44amI unsubscribed from Michele Bachmann’s newsletters. She voted for the extention of the Patriot Act.
I am more determined than ever to educate my friends on Allen West’s patriotism and his effort to get answers to questions necessary for a good decision on the vote. He never heard from Mueller; West voted against the bill.
The two senators from Georgia voted for it. And now a MACHINE has signed it.
Report Post »Sam Brown
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 11:04amIs it legal? Who knows, we have nobody who will enforce the laws and a Congress and Press corp that go along with anything he does.
Sam
Report Post »forestnomad
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 11:11amSo basically, TheBlaze readers got their panties all in a bunch because they are ignorant dipshits?
Report Post »jackrorabbit
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 11:14amWhy be bothered with doing work? Get a machine to do it for you. No wonder Americans are getting fat and lazy.
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 12:04pmI wonder if we could fix up a formal resignation form and have him auto sign it???
Report Post »Obama_Sham
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 12:17pm@ForestNomad
“So basically, TheBlaze readers got their panties all in a bunch because they are ignorant dipshits?”
Your comment proves that you are also a ******* by being a reader of The Blaze…
Good call, genius…
Report Post »GIDEON612
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 12:54pm@Obama_Sham
I agree with you and wish to point out another obvious here. This person uses the name forestnomad.
Report Post »This would be claiming to be able and willing to support themselves and survive in harsh conditions alone and without any intervention of others. This is completely contrary to the socialist beliefs and manifesto. If this person was tracked down they would lose their standing in their own group for even suggesting that one can survive without the government.
TruthLover
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 1:01pmSo…my mom‘s signed notes from the pres about the moon landing aren’t real? Dang. There goes her retirement savings.
Report Post »forestnomad
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 1:15pm@GIDEON612
So because I find pathetic all of this manufactured outrage by idiots over something that presidents (even Saint Reagan!) have used for DECADES somehow means I am a communist?
Holy dipshits everywhere. You people are indeed insane.
Report Post »old white guy
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 3:36pmand it just gets dumber everyday. what hell is wrong with the u.s.a.?????
Report Post »proliance
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 4:09pmLet‘s say using the autopen doesn’t qualify as signing a bill.
But if a bill sits on the President‘s desk and he doesn’t sign it (or signs it with a mechanical device that doesn’t count), then it becomes law anyway. Much ado about nothing.
Report Post »Mil Mom
Posted on May 27, 2011 at 6:01pmMy question, did he even have any idea what the final bill which became law when his signature was affixed looked like?
Report Post »He may have found a way to vote “Present” as POTUS, I can hear the campaign speech now in CA, “If I hadn’t been busy in Europe and had actually seen the bill, I‘m not sure I’d have signed it into law!”
Definitely “Plausable Deniability” after all he has all these fines and gaffs to prove he was out of the country at the time of it’s enactment!
CultureWarriors
Posted on May 28, 2011 at 3:27pmThis is much ado about nothing. We should stay focused on his unprecedented incompetence.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on May 29, 2011 at 8:40pmWhy not? This entire administration has been PHONED IN by Union thugs and George Soros and their minions. Does it REALLY matter if BHO signs it? Do you honestly think he would refuse to sign anything that the unions or spooky dude told him to sign? It is all about power and money.
Report Post »We don‘t need ’expericed politicians.’
What we NEED is HONEST men and women!
Give me a good, simple, honest man ANY DAY over a chicago thug politician.