Alaska Man Charged With Threatening to Kill 6 Supreme Court Justices

Washington — The Justice Department said an Alaska man was arrested Wednesday on charges of threatening to kill six Supreme Court justices and harm two of their family members.

Panos Anastasiou, 76, is accused of sending more than 465 messages to the Supreme Court through an online portal that contained rhetoric of violence, racism and homophobia, according to court documents. Anastasiou allegedly threatened to murder, kidnap, torture, hang, behead and execute judges and encouraged others to join him in committing acts of violence, the Justice Department said.

He was charged with nine counts of threatening a federal judge and 13 counts of menacing in interstate commerce. Anastasiou appeared before a federal judge Wednesday and pleaded not guilty.

“We allege that the defendant repeatedly threatened death and torture against Supreme Court justices and their families in an effort to retaliate against them for decisions he disagreed with,” Attorney General Merrick Garland, a former federal appeals judge, said in a statement. “Our justice system relies on the ability of judges to make decisions based on the law, not fear. Our democracy relies on the ability of public officials to do their jobs without fear for their lives or the safety of their families.”

The Supreme Court declined to comment on the allegations. Anastasiou’s lawyer was not named in court documents.

The judges in the indictment were not identified by name, but only as “Supreme Court Judges 1-6.” The indictment documents state that some of the threats allegedly made by Anastasiou were “intended to intimidate” the judges and “in retaliation for official actions” they had taken in their capacity as judges.

The messages were sent from January to July, when the Supreme Court’s term ended, court documents show.

In one message, sent on January 4, Anastasiou allegedly threatened to murder a judge by “providing a rope” to “hang… from an oak tree.” Another message, sent on May 10, included a threat to kill the same judge through “lynching.”

Court records show that in a May 16 message referring to a second Supreme Court justice, Anastasiou allegedly threatened to kill the justice by “putting a bullet in his … head.” The Justice Department said the message sent the next day was directed not only at the first two justices but also at two unnamed family members and warned against sending “fellow veterans” to “spray” their homes with bullets in hopes of killing them.

The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority and has faced widespread criticism in recent years for decisions on politically charged issues, including abortion, guns and presidential power. Last term, six conservatives voted to confirm former President Donald Trump entitled to immunity facing federal prosecution for official activities undertaken in the White House.

Decision June 2022 abolition of the constitutional right to abortion was heavily criticized and led to protests outside the homes of several conservative judges, including Justices Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh. The California man was arrested in June 2022 after he was found outside Kavanaugh’s Maryland home with a gun, a knife and various implements and was accused of threatening to kill the judge. he pleaded not guilty.