Alaska man faces serious charges for threatening to kill, torture Supreme Court justices

An Alaska man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly making threats toward six U.S. Supreme Court Justices.
Panos Anastasiou, 76, sent over 465 messages to the justices through the court’s website between March 20, 2023, and July 16, 2024, according to Alaska U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker.
“The messages contained violent, racist and homophobic rhetoric coupled with threats of assassination by torture, hanging and firearms,” Tucker’s announcement said.
During a court appearance Wednesday, Anastasiou was charged with nine counts of making threats against a federal judge and 13 counts of making threats in interstate commerce. He faces up to a total of 90 years in prison for each count of making threats.
“We allege that the defendant made repeated, heinous threats to murder and torture Supreme Court Justices and their families to retaliate against them for decisions he disagreed with,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
“Our justice system depends on the ability of judges to make their decisions based on the law, and not on fear. Our democracy depends on the ability of public officials to do their jobs without fearing for their lives or the safety of their families,” he added.
The indictment didn’t mention which justices were targeted justices. The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority that has faced criticism over recent landmark decisions.
Political violence against this bench of justices has been especially high following the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. At the time, Garland upped the around-the clock-security for the justices.
A California man was arrested in 2022 after getting caught outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house in Maryland while holding a gun, knife and other tools in his possession. He was charged with the intent to assassinate the justice and pled not guilty, as CBS News reported.
Earlier in February, the U.S. Marshals Service Director Ronald Davis told a House Judiciary subcommittee that he is deeply alarmed by increasing threats against the judicial system.
“In the past three years, the number of threats against federal judges have more than doubled, as have threats against prosecutors and other court officials,” Davis said, per CNN. “I must state in stark terms that the current and evolving threat environment facing the judiciary constitutes a substantial risk to our democracy.”