Did biden sign all of his pardons?

1. The scale of Biden’s clemency actions: more than any prior president

By the end of his term, official counts and reputable analyses show Joe Biden granted more acts of clemency than any prior president, with the Justice Department and independent researchers recording thousands of pardons, commutations and other clemency actions—Pew Research counted 4,245 acts during his four‑year term and the White House posted multi‑thousand commutation lists online during the final days of the administration ^{[1] [4] [5]}.

2. The paper trail: pardons and commutations published by the Justice Department and White House

The Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney maintains public lists and individual “pardon warrant” PDFs for specific grants of clemency, and the White House published recipient lists for large commutation actions such as the mass commutation announced in January 2025—documents that formally bear the president’s name and signature block for each grant ^{[6] [7] [4]}.

3. Signature practice: autopen use and the controversy over who “signed” the documents

Reporting and investigations during and after the administration documented that several clemency warrants and pardons were executed with an autopen signature or other non‑handwritten method; oversight organizations and press outlets cataloged high‑profile clemency orders that carried autopen signatures, and critics argued that the device meant the president did not personally affix each signature ^{[3] [2]}. Supporters and some legal experts countered that the use of an autopen to reproduce a lawful presidential signature does not invalidate a clemency grant and that delegation of the physical act of signing has precedent ^[2].

4. Administration response and political fallout: decisions vs. signatures

Biden himself and his defenders have emphasized that he personally made the substantive decisions to grant clemency even when an autopen or staff action reproduced his signature on paper, with the former president asserting that suggestions he did not make those decisions were “ridiculous and false” ^[2]. Meanwhile, Republican investigators and some watchdogs framed autopen use as evidence of abdicated responsibility, prompting inquiries and public argument over transparency and presidential capacity—an argument that was amplified by partisan exchanges about signature practices for both Biden and his successor ^{[8] [9] [10]}.

5. What the record supports and where reporting is limited

The factual record in official DOJ and White House releases demonstrates that Biden authorized thousands of clemency actions and that many of those grants were published as formal documents; reporting from oversight groups and mainstream outlets documents the autopen’s role in applying signatures on at least some warrants and pardons ^{[6] [4] [3] [2]}. Where reporting diverges is on motive and implication: whether autopen use reflects normal administrative practice, routine delegation, or something more troubling is contested in the press and subject to ongoing investigations and partisan interpretation, and the available sources do not provide a definitive, universally accepted accounting of every single document’s method of signature or of internal decision‑making conversations for each clemency case ^{[2] [3]}.

Conclusion — direct answer to the question asked: Biden did not personally hand‑sign every clemency document; he issued and authorized thousands of pardons and commutations recorded by the Justice Department and White House, and in numerous instances the visible signature on the published warrant was applied by autopen or through other delegated processes even as his team and he have maintained that he made the substantive decisions ^{[6] [4] [1] [3] [2]}.