# Obama is the only president in history to use autopen to sign bills into law
# Also used autopen to sign Patriot Act while in France in May 2011 and to sign legislation to fund the government while in Bali in November 2011
# Questions over whether using the gadget is unconstitutional
# He flew back to Hawaii after the House passed the fiscal cliff deal

It's a highly-anticipated deal that keeps his nation from teetering over the edge of the fiscal cliff - yet President Obama has not even shown up to sign the new bill into law.
Instead, Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, has signed the bill using an autopen, a mechanical device that copies his signature - allowing him to accept the deal after playing a round of golf.

Conservative critics have claimed that using the autopen for a president to write his signature is unconstitutional.
Article 1, Section 7 of the constitution states that if a bill is passed by both the House and Senate, it shall be presented to the president. 'If he approve(s) he shall sign it,' states the Constitution. There is nothing in the document that suggests a reasonable facsimile affixed by an appliance will do just as well.
But in 2005, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel deemed the use of the autopen constitution, ruling that 'the President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill to sign it'.
The autopen is often used by politicians and celebrities to duplicate signatures for letters. Obama is the first president to use the device to sign a bill into law, but Harry Truman, Thomas Jefferson and Gerald Ford are also known to have used the autopen.

Originally posted by CaptGizmo
reply to post by tinhattribunal

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Why is it that there is no other source on this matter out there that I can find? What would be the reason for him to use an auto pen for one or two signatures. This seems more like an advertising plug with a made up story to me.

Not by you, but by the dailymail.

edit on 1/3/2013 by CaptGizmo because: (no reason given)