President Joe Biden didn’t order the arrest of Supreme Court justices

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled July 1 that former President Donald Trump is immune from prosecution for carrying out "official acts" while in office.

But that didn’t inspire President Joe Biden to arrest the six conservative justices who voted in favor of that decision.

"In official capacity, Biden orders DOJ to arrest 6 justices of SCOTUS," reads text in an image spreading on social media. "They will be charged with Corruption and, Anti-American Activities."

Threads posts sharing the image were 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.)

Biden has ordered no such arrests. 

This claim appears to have originated on meme sites, though some Threads users seemed confused about its credibility. 

"Source?" one person commented in response to the image. 

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Threads posts

stated on November 19, 2024 in a Threads post

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hospitalized with “serious health issue.”

Elsewhere on the internet, it was clear this isn’t reality. On Reddit, it was shared with tags such as "humor" and in forums dedicated to political memes.

"Use the power Joe," one Reddit post said. 

A presidential order to arrest one Supreme Court justice, let alone six, would draw widespread news coverage but, of course, there’s none. 

There are also no statements from Biden in that regard. 

As we’ve previously reported, the court’s ruling significantly limits checks on presidential power. In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the decision "effectively creates a law-free zone around the president, upsetting the status quo that has existed since the founding. … Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. … In every use of official power, the president is not a king above the law."

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that "the president is not above the law" and said "the president enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the president does is official."

But this holds no bearing on whether Biden can legally arrest Roberts and his five conservative colleagues, because Biden made no such order. We rate claims that he did Pants on Fire!