Old video of fencing at the Supreme Court reshared as new on social media

A video appearing in social media feeds warns of “something big” as a camera pans along a section of tall black fencing in front of what appears to be the U.S. Supreme Court building. 

“What’s happening?” text in the video says. “BREAKING: Fences have been installed around the Supreme Court. Something big is coming.”  

A June 17 Instagram post sharing the video was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

This footage is old. Mitchell Miller, a reporter for WTOP-FM in Washington, D.C., shared it on X in May 2022.

“Fencing now surrounds the U.S. Supreme Court following protests and the leak of the draft decision that could overturn Roe v. Wade,” Miller wrote then.

Workers started installing the 8-foot tall fencing in early May of that year after multiple nights of protests over the leaked opinion that signaled the court planned to overturn Roe v. Wade. The fencing was removed a few months later.

PolitiFact asked the Supreme Court whether any similar fencing is now outside of the court but didn’t immediately hear back. However, we found no credible news reports saying as much. 

What we’re certain of: this video is not from 2024. 

We rate claims that it shows fencing recently erected around the court False.