Sen. Ted Cruz questions constitutionality of Biden pardons signed by autopen

WASHINGTON - Sen. Ted Cruz is calling into question the constitutionality of former President Joe Biden's issued pardons and clemencies through the use of autopen.

Specifically, Cruz suggests that members of the Biden administration took advantage of a "decline in the President's mental acuity" leaving members of the former president's staff to question if Biden had signed off on some of the commutations.

"Leaked emails further show that the Biden White House implemented a process that separated the President from officials responsible for signing pardons on his behalf," Cruz said. "They could not know if they were doing so at the President’s direction, either on a case-by-case basis or by following criteria."

The Texas Republican claims in a letter sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi that Biden's pardons were issued based on a broad criteria instead of a case-by-case basis and that some were signed by autopen.

Cruz claims the clemencies violate the core constitutional requirements to issue such clemencies and pardons.

"These core Constitutional requirements, considerations, and expectations were swept aside in the final months of the Biden administration for partisan and personal motives by President Biden, his family, and his top officials," Cruz said.

Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 4,000 inmates in the final month of his presidency while pardoning 39 others.

What they're saying:

"The issues being investigated include the extent of President Biden’s direct knowledge of the broad criteria and case-by-case actions, the role of Biden officials in concealing lapses in his mental acuity related to those issues, and the integrity of the process by which the commutations were issued – all of which ultimately implicate the legal status of those clemencies, potentially rendering them null and void," Cruz said in the letter.

Cruz’s letter comes on the heels of a report from Axios that unearthed emails that showed Biden officials raised concerns with how the president’s team decided to make certain pardons and the frequent usage of the autopen.

"These and other reports suggest that Biden-Harris officials took advantage of the decline in the President’s mental acuity, coupled with the chaos of the Presidential transition, to implement sweeping, fringe, progressive policies on crime and law enforcement, and to usurp authorities solely reserved for the President and which he is forbidden from delegating," Cruz said. "Such an act would constitute a direct and unprecedented assault on our Constitutional order."

Biden sets record for most pardons, commutations issued

By the numbers:

Biden set the presidential record for most individual pardons and commutations issued. In January, he announced he would commute the sentences of almost 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. The month before, he announced the commutations of sentences for roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed in home confinement during the pandemic, as well as the pardoning of 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes. 

Also in December, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment.

Additionally, Biden pardoned his son Hunter, not just for his convictions on federal gun and tax violations, but for any potential federal offense committed over an 11-year period, as the president feared Trump allies would seek to prosecute his son for other offenses.