Ban on Inkless Directives and Executive Notarizations Act of 2025

H.R. 4411, the Ban on Inkless Directives and Executive Notarizations Act of 2025, would require that certain high-level presidential actions be personally signed by the President and could not be executed using any automatic signing device (such as an autopen) or by anyone other than the President. Specifically, the bill adds a prohibition on non-presidential signing of engrossed bills, executive orders, and pardons or commutations. It also states that any such actions signed in violation of this requirement—including those signed before the Act’s effective date—would be treated as having no force or effect. The law would override other legal provisions to enforce this, meaning there would be no room for delegated or automated signatures on these items. In short, the bill seeks to eliminate the use of autopen and other automatic signing methods for critical presidential acts, and it threatens retroactive nullification of past actions that were signed improperly.