Can You Film in a Public Building? Federal, State, and Courts

You can generally film inside a public building in areas that are open to the public, such as lobbies, corridors, and public meeting spaces, but the right stops at restricted zones, courthouses, private offices, and situations where your recording interferes with government operations. Federal appeals courts have recognized recording government activity in public spaces as a First Amendment right, and the Third Circuit held in Fields v. City of Philadelphia that “the First Amendment protects the act of photographing, filming, or otherwise recording police officers conducting their official duties in public.”¹ Still, that right coexists with security rules, wiretapping statutes, and courthouse restrictions that can turn a lawful recording into a criminal charge fast.

Where You Can Film in a Federal Building

Federal buildings run on Department of Homeland Security rules at 6 CFR part 139, which took effect in late 2025 and replaced the older General Services Administration regulations. Section 139.65 sorts recording into three zones.

Public exterior areas. Streets, sidewalks, parks, and plazas near a federal building are open to photography and recording without permission, as long as you are not blocking access or disrupting operations.²
Public interior areas. Entrances, lobbies, foyers, corridors, and auditoriums are treated the same way.²
Tenant-occupied spaces. Recording inside space occupied by a specific federal agency requires that agency’s express permission. Commercial filming needs written permission in advance.²

Even in areas that are generally open, a posted security directive can prohibit photography in a specific zone, and that restriction controls. The regulation also bars recording that “impedes or disrupts access to, or operations on, Federal property,” which gives building security room to intervene when filming is causing a problem. Violations can bring a fine, imprisonment for up to 30 days, or both.³ The penalty authority traces back to 40 U.S.C. § 1315, which lets the Secretary of Homeland Security set conduct rules for federally owned or occupied property.⁴

State and Local Government Buildings

City halls, public libraries, DMV offices, and similar state or local facilities are not covered by the federal rules above. Each runs on its own mix of state law, local ordinance, and internal building policy. Some post clear signage about where recording is allowed. Others have no formal policy, which generally means you can record in publicly accessible spaces.

The constitutional limits still apply. A restriction on filming must be content neutral, tied to a real government interest such as security or preventing disruption, and it has to leave open some meaningful way to gather and share information. A library that limits recording in reading areas to protect patron privacy has a defensible policy. A city hall that bans filming in its public lobby to shield itself from scrutiny does not. In practice, you often will not know whether a restriction is legally sound until someone challenges it.

Some spaces are off-limits in essentially every government building regardless of the rules. Restrooms, medical clinics inside government facilities, and private meeting rooms where people discuss sensitive personal matters carry a reasonable expectation of privacy that overrides any filming right.

Courthouses Are the Strictest Environment

Courthouses are the most restrictive public buildings when it comes to cameras. Rule 53 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure flatly prohibits “the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom.”⁵ Many federal courthouses extend the restriction well beyond the courtroom, and some now require visitors to lock phones in pouches at entry, preventing any recording throughout the building.

State courts set their own rules, and most lean heavily toward restricting cameras, citing witness safety, juror anonymity, and the integrity of proceedings. Where state courts allow cameras, the permission usually comes with strict conditions: advance written approval from a judge, no filming of jurors, and the ability for the court to revoke permission at any time. Unauthorized recording can bring contempt charges, removal from the building, and device confiscation.

Filming Government Employees and Other People

Recording a government employee performing official duties in a public area is protected. That includes police officers making arrests, clerks processing paperwork at a counter, and inspectors conducting walkthroughs. The First Circuit put it plainly in Glik v. Cunniffe: “a citizen’s right to film government officials, including law enforcement officers, in the discharge of their duties in a public space is a basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment.”⁶

The protection has real limits. It does not let you follow an employee into a private office, interfere with their work, or refuse to step back when asked to clear an area where an active investigation is underway. Physically blocking an officer, entering a restricted zone, or using your camera as a pretext to delay someone can turn protected activity into obstruction. The line gets crossed when your presence starts affecting what the employee can do.

Filming private citizens who happen to be in a government building is a different question. Catching someone incidentally in the background of a public lobby is generally fine. Targeting a specific individual with a camera can implicate their privacy, especially if they are there to access sensitive government services.

Audio Recording Is a Separate Legal Question

This is where people get caught out. Video and audio are treated differently under the law. Federal wiretapping law uses one-party consent, meaning you can legally record any conversation you are part of.⁷ But roughly a dozen states, including California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Washington, require every party to a conversation to consent before it can be recorded.

The practical effect: you can stand in a public lobby where video recording is perfectly legal and still break the law by capturing audio of a nearby conversation without consent. Federal violations carry up to five years in prison.⁷ State penalties vary but often stack criminal charges and civil liability. If you plan to capture audio inside a government building, check your state’s rule first.

When Someone Tells You to Stop

Knowing the law matters less if you do not know how to handle a challenge. The usual scenario: a security guard or employee approaches and tells you to stop filming or to leave. Your response shapes whether the encounter stays civil or escalates.

If you are in a clearly public area like a lobby or corridor and believe the order lacks a legal basis, you can calmly state that you believe you have a right to record in a public space. If the person insists and you refuse to leave, you risk a trespassing charge. Courts have held that a person in a public building is there with permission unless they defy a lawful order to leave. Whether that order was actually lawful can be sorted out later; the arrest happens in the moment.

One rule is firm: no government official can lawfully order you to delete your footage, and the government may never lawfully destroy your recordings. If you are not under arrest, law enforcement needs a warrant to confiscate your device or view its contents. If you are arrested, officers can take your phone, but the Supreme Court held in Riley v. California (2014) that they still need a warrant to search what is on it. A demand to delete has no legal backing.

What It Can Cost You

Consequences scale with the location and with how you respond. If you are asked to stop and you comply, nothing usually follows. Refusing to leave after being told to do so is the most common path to a trespassing charge.

In a federal building, violating the photography regulation can bring a fine and up to 30 days in jail.³ Courthouses carry heavier consequences because judges have broad contempt powers. Contempt can bring fines, device confiscation, and incarceration until you comply with the court’s order. Recording a federal court proceeding violates Rule 53 and can be treated as unlawful interference with the proceedings.⁵

If your recording also captures audio in an all-party consent state without permission, wiretapping charges layer on top, and those penalties tend to be significantly harsher than the filming violation itself. The federal wiretapping statute alone allows up to five years of imprisonment.⁷

1
Justia Law. Fields v City of Philadelphia, No 16-1650 (3d Cir 2017)
2
eCFR. 6 CFR 139.65 – Photography and Recording
3
eCFR. 6 CFR Part 139 – Conduct on Federal Property
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 40 USC 1315 – Law Enforcement Authority of Secretary of Homeland Security for Protection of Public Property
5
Cornell Law Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 53 – Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited
6
Justia Law. Glik v Cunniffe, No 10-1764 (1st Cir 2011)
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2511 – Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Oral, or Electronic Communications Prohibited