Does a real order from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts allow Donald Trump to seek "four additional years" as president? No, that's not true: A search of the Supreme Court of the United States' docket found no order bearing the number shown in the fake document. Supreme Court orders are public records. While portions of a case file may be sealed, Supreme Court orders and decisions are searchable.
The claim appeared in a reel (archived here) by Timothy Wilcox on Facebook on May 31, 2026. The fake document in the reel stated:
Supreme Court of the United States
No. 26-1457DONALD J. TRUMP,
Petitioner,
v.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Respondent.
On Motion to Vacate Respondent's Actions Regarding the 2020 Election and Subsequent Term of Office
ORDER
The Court having considered the Verified Motion to Vacate Petitioner's First Term of Office (2021-2024), and the accompanying Memorandum of Law alleging substantial election interference, constitutional violations, and executive authority manipulation by political opponents,IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED BY THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES:
The First Term of Office (2021-2024) of Donald J. Trump is hereby VACATED due to unprecedented election interference, unconstitutional acts by executive and legislative officials, and proven manipulation by the Democratic Party in coordination with media, tech, and federal agencies.
Petitioner shall be restored to his original position as if said term had not occurred.
Petitioner shall be granted the full constitutional right to seek and serve FOUR (4) ADDITIONAL YEARS as President of the United States.
SO ORDERED.
John G. Roberts, Jr. [signed]
John G. Roberts, Jr.
Chief Justice of the United States
March 15, 2026
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by Timothy Wilcox on Facebook.)
The Supreme Court's docket is a list of cases the Court is currently reviewing or has already decided. It includes cases that have been filed with the Court. The docket covers the status of all cases filed since the start of the 2001 term. When Lead Stories searched the docket (archived here) for case number 26-1457, the website returned these results:
No items found for:26-1457
This means the Court has no record of the case, which is not surprising because a case number beginning with 26 would be assigned during the Supreme Court's 2026 term, which begins on Oct. 5, 2026, and officially ends on Oct. 3, 2027. The purported order by Chief Justice Roberts is dated March 15, 2026, which falls during the Court's 2025 term, which runs from Oct. 6, 2025, to Oct. 4, 2026. If the order were real, its case number would begin with 25, not 26.
There are other signs that the document is fake. It refers to Trump's "First Term of Office (2021-2024)." However, Trump's first term as president ran from 2017 to 2021, not 2021 to 2024. Joe Biden was president from 2021 to 2025.
The document also uses highly political language, including the phrase "proven manipulation by the Democratic Party in coordination with media, tech, and federal agencies." Such language would be unusual in formal procedural documents issued by the Supreme Court. Opinions are, by design, argumentative, but such partisan or political language is not a part of procedural orders.
The Supreme Court also does not have the constitutional authority to "vacate" a presidential term of office or grant a president an additional four years outside of the standard constitutional election process. The 22nd Amendment (archived here) limits American presidents to serving a maximum of two elected terms in office.
Lead Stories searched Google News (archived here) and Yahoo! News (archived here) and did not find any matching reports for these words: "Roberts," "Supreme Court," order," and "four additional years." Major news outlets would have widely reported such an order by Roberts had one been made.
