{"id":12637,"date":"2026-05-27T14:01:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T21:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tiu.edu\/law\/?post_type=articles&p=12637"},"modified":"2026-05-27T14:01:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T21:01:57","slug":"the-auto-pen-the-christian-mind-and-the-silver-bullet-mentality","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.tiu.edu\/law\/articles\/the-auto-pen-the-christian-mind-and-the-silver-bullet-mentality\/","title":{"rendered":"The Auto-pen, the Christian Mind, and the Silver Bullet Mentality"},"content":{"rendered":"

I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.<\/i>1<\/sup><\/p>\n

See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.<\/i>2<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Social media often froths. One recent catalyst:\u00a0 The dreaded, (or is it the demonic?) auto-pen.\u00a0 It\u2019s come to light that evidently President Biden used a mechanical device \u2013 the auto-pen – to affix his \u201csignature\u201d to certain presidential matters, including the unprecedented 11th hour pardons of the January 6 Committee.3<\/sup>\u00a0 Folks on the Right are lathered up and now contending that virtually everything that President Biden did is void and of no legal effect \u2013 because he used the auto-pen.\u00a0 President Trump poured gasoline on this fire with his usual rhetorical bombast:<\/p>\n

\u00a0“The ‘Pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT because they were done by Autopen. In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them, but more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime. Therefore, those on the Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two-year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level. The fact is, they were probably responsible for the Documents that were signed on their behalf without the knowledge or consent of the Worst President in the History of our Country, Crooked Joe Biden!”4<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, President Trump also uses the auto-pen for \u201cunimportant papers\u201d, as he acknowledges.5<\/sup> Does the Christian worldview provide any insight in navigating these claims?\u00a0 Indeed, it does.\u00a0 Let\u2019s get to the gist.<\/p>\n

Some Biblical Considerations<\/b><\/p>\n

The problem with much of this boisterous banter stems from agenda-driven, yet remarkably uninformed, passion.\u00a0 It\u2019s really a camouflaged search for a shortcut, a silver bullet to defeat an opponent by affirming a pre-packaged conclusion:<\/p>\n

\u201cBiden\u2019s actions stunk; now we can \u2013 in one fell swoop \u2013 NULLIFY all that he did because he used the auto-pen\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No further thought needed.\u00a0 Forget tough arguments, diplomacy, and persuasion \u2013 let\u2019s just pull a rabbit from our hat and presto! \u2013 all our political problems disappear.\u00a0 This is wishful and simplistic thinking \u2013 a theory that supposedly \u201cexplains everything.\u201d6<\/sup> It\u2019s also fallacious as it embraces hasty generalizations.\u00a0 And, these errors are not new.<\/p>\n

Recall these biblical scenarios.\u00a0 Opponents of Jesus, wanting to discredit His work, seized upon something they believed dismantled His ministry:<\/p>\n

And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, \u201cWhy does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?\u201d<\/i><\/b>7<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In their hostile minds, eating with tax collectors and sinners negated Jesus\u2019 entire ministry.\u00a0 Or consider this incident, perhaps a less hostile view, but one still rooted in a silver bullet mentality:<\/p>\n

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, \u201cWe have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.\u201d Nathanael said to him, \u201cCan anything good come out of Nazareth?\u201d<\/i><\/b> Philip said to him, \u201cCome and see.\u201d8<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This genetic fallacy colored Nathanael\u2019s thinking.\u00a0 Or consider this episode:<\/p>\n

Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, \u201cCan this be the Son of David?\u201d But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, \u201cIt is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.\u201d<\/i><\/b>9<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In each situation, the sceptics invoked and relied upon a generalization, believing it conclusively provided \u201cTHE answer.\u201d\u00a0 They vested a purported silver bullet with grand and comprehensive explanatory power. This one thing justified their suspicion or rejection of Christ.\u00a0 Like Archimedes\u2019 lever on a fulcrum, they could move the world with the right silver bullet.<\/p>\n

The Auto-pen, the Constitution, and Paul\u2019s Apostolic Authority<\/b><\/p>\n

OK \u2013 now let\u2019s consider the blather about the auto-pen. What\u2019s all the fuss? The auto-pen is a device which has existed for decades and has been used by governmental officials regularly.\u00a0 This device duplicates a signature, making real and fresh ink strokes in doing so. It differs from \u201cfake\u201d printed signatures often affixed to mass mailings in an effort to \u201cpersonalize\u201d them, often seeking donations.<\/p>\n

People are lathered up in this instance because given former President Biden\u2019s obviously diminishing cognitive acumen, the assumption is that he had no idea about affixing his actual signature anywhere.\u00a0 He was supposedly a veritable puppet at the mercies of some shadow cabal who imitated and affixed his signature on their own preferential policies.<\/p>\n

Why is this problematic?\u00a0 Why all the conspiratorial fuss?\u00a0 Because the constitution requires the President to \u201csign\u201d proposed legislation before it becomes law,10<\/sup> it is contended that this ministerial act requires the POTUS to personally and physically affix his signature.11<\/sup>\u00a0 This contention imbibes a Pharisaical, reductionistic, and legalistic view, as do most simplistic silver bullets.12<\/sup><\/p>\n

The reality is that the White House Counsel\u2019s Office during the Bush years affirmed that \u201csigning\u201d \u2013 properly understood historically – is ministerial<\/i> and that what matters is whether POTUS intended and directed that his signature be affixed \u2013 not that he personally and physically did so.\u00a0 As this lengthy legal opinion concluded:<\/p>\n

Accordingly, we conclude that neither past practice nor previous opinions relating to the signing requirement of Article I, Section 7 foreclose reading that requirement in a manner that is consistent with the traditional common law understanding of \u201csign,\u201d with Attorney General and Department of Justice opinions applying that understanding to statutory signing requirements, and with the settled interpretation of the related presentment and return provisions.<\/p>\n

IV.<\/p>\n

For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill he approves and decides to sign in order for the bill to become law. Rather, the President may sign a bill within the meaning of Article I, Section 7 by directing a subordinate to affix the President\u2019s signature to such a bill, for example by autopen.13<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Legally this is standard stuff.\u00a0 Law, which the constitution is,14<\/sup>\u00a0must be interpreted as law in context.\u00a0 A reductionistic hyperliteralism actually undermines the constitution\u2019s function and design.\u00a0 For example, while the 1st Amendment constrains the State using apparently categorical terms – \u201cCongress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech\u201d this does not \u2013 in context \u2013 mean that all speech of whatever kind receives protection.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because \u201cthe freedom of speech\u201d referenced in the amendment is historically itself a term of legal art.\u00a0 That term specifically excludes certain categories from protection:\u00a0 obscenity, defamation, \u201cfighting words,\u201d child pornography, incitement to imminent lawless action, speech integral to crimes, (like conspiracy or fraud), and emblematically, falsely yelling \u201cFire!\u201d in a crowded theatre.<\/p>\n

Given this context, only a crabbed reading of the operative constitutional language would insist that the President personally and physically affix his signature to bills or executive orders.\u00a0 It would be like saying that the \u201cspeech\u201d protected by the 1st Amendment only refers oral<\/i> verbal<\/i> utterances but not writings <\/i>or non-verbal symbolic expressions<\/i>.\u00a0 Liberty would be truncated by this type of wooden interpretation.\u00a0 This \u201cmethod\u201d would lead to silly results too:\u00a0 It would be like saying that since the constitution does not mention an Airforce or a Space Force, that these military branches lack constitutional warrant and thus are \u201cVOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT.\u201d15<\/sup>\u00a0 Reading a text in this way, especially a constitutional text, would be equivalent to using a meat cleaver to perform neuro-surgery \u2013 no one would fare well.<\/p>\n

Christians need to elevate their thinking, including how they think about the auto-pen.\u00a0 In doing so they must avoid histrionic hissy-fits, hasty generalizations, by rejecting the simplistic search for utopian silver bullets.\u00a0 Rather, in our thinking Christ calls us to be mature16<\/sup> and sober-minded,17<\/sup> not like the Gentiles [unbelievers] who are \u201cfutile in their thinking\u201d18<\/sup> \u201cin the futility of their minds.\u201d19<\/sup>\u00a0 Many policies of the Biden Administration conflict or undermine Christian morality; his using the auto-pen is not one of them and contending otherwise comprises a simplistic, unthinking, uninformed, emotivism unworthy of the Christian mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"publisher":[28],"class_list":["post-12637","articles","type-articles","status-publish","hentry","publisher-center-public-legal-theology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Auto-pen, the Christian Mind, and the Silver Bullet Mentality - Trinity Law School<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiu.edu\/law\/articles\/the-auto-pen-the-christian-mind-and-the-silver-bullet-mentality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Auto-pen, the Christian Mind, and the Silver Bullet Mentality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.1 See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.2 Social media often froths. 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