Biden Administration’s Use of The Autopen To Appoint Federal Judges Investigated by GOP

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) is overseeing the investigation of the Biden administration’s expansive use of the autopen for presidential pardons, executive orders and nominees, specifically those confirmed by the U.S. Senate for lifetime federal judges.

Despite former President Biden telling the New York Times that he directly approved and “personally made every decision” when the autopen was used, GOP lawmakers are investigating whether or not the expansive use of the autopen by administration officials is legal.

Last week in an interview with Fox News, Comer confirmed that federal judiciary appointments would “absolutely” be examined as part of the ongoing investigation.

Former President Joe Biden enjoyed a record number of Senate confirmations of federal judges and is credited with adding a record number of women and minorities to the federal bench.

According to Pew Research:

Following a flurry of judicial confirmations in the final weeks of the 118th Congress, President Joe Biden will end his tenure in the White House having appointed 228 judges to the federal courts. That figure includes record numbers of women and racial or ethnic minorities.

Biden’s total narrowly eclipses the 226 federal judges Donald Trump appointed during his first term as president. Trump, however, will soon be able to add to his tally as he prepares to take office for a second term, which will start with a Republican Senate majority.

ABC reports the demographics and backgrounds of the judicial appointments:

Biden also appointed the first four Muslims to serve as federal judges, and more than 40 percent of his confirmed nominees were civil rights lawyers or public defenders, including two-thirds of his confirmed circuit court appointments. That’s a big departure from past precedent, when the overwhelming majority of judicial picks were from prosecutorial or corporate backgrounds. Research has shown that judges who have backgrounds as public defenders tend to hand down less punitive sentences and incarcerate fewer people, a fact that criminal justice reform advocates have been stressing in their praise of Biden’s judicial picks.

Between California and Nevada, the Biden administration nominated, and the U.S. Senate confirmed, a total of 18 judges to the bench–16 in California and two in Nevada. Justices Cristina Silva and Anne Traum will serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Biden’s only appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, also faces GOP scrutiny.

During the interview with Fox News, Comer added,  “I think all of these are in jeopardy of being declared null and void in a court of law.”