Alaska man arrested after threatening messages sent to justice
SCOTUS NEWS
An Alaska man was arrested on Wednesday after he was indicted on charges of threatening to kill and injure six Supreme Court justices and two of their family members, the Department announced on Thursday. (PT Hamilton via Shutterstock)
An Alaska man was arrested on Wednesday after he was indicted on charges of threatening to kill and injure six Supreme Court justices and two of their family members, the Department of Justice announced on Thursday.
Over a 16-month period between March 2023 and July 2024, Panos Anastasiou allegedly sent more than 465 messages through the Supreme Court’s website. Beginning in early January of this year, he began to send threatening messages to the justices and their family members, who are not identified in the 11-page indictment (h/t Jacqueline Thomson of Bloomberg Law) by name.
Those messages, according to the indictment, contained “violent, racist, and homophobic rhetoric coupled with threats of assassination via torture, hanging and firearms, and encouraged others to participate in the acts of violence.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland denounced the threats. Garland stated that “our justice system” depends on judges’ ability to make decisions based on law and not fear. Our democracy depends on public officials being able to do their job without fearing their safety or their lives. In June 2022, after being arrested near the Maryland residence of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Californian man was charged with attempted homicide of a Supreme Court Justice. The trial is scheduled to start in June 2025.
