A Greek-American from Alaska is facing charges for threatening to torture and kill six US Supreme Court justices, including two of the court’s most prominent conservative members, as well as their family members, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Specifically, as reported by the New York Post, 76-year-old Panos Anastasiou was arrested on Wednesday in Anchorage. He faces 22 federal charges stemming from 465 threatening messages he allegedly sent through the Supreme Court’s website between March 10 and July 16.
Although the indictment does not name specific justices, details from Anastasiou’s messages suggest that he targeted Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, known as two of the most hardline members of the conservative bloc in the Supreme Court, which currently holds a 6-3 majority.
Two of the messages also appear to threaten former President and current Republican candidate Donald Trump. However, the charges against Anastasiou do not seem directly related to his comments about the former president.
Greek American’s messages to Supreme Court justices
In one message, sent on May 17, Anastasiou allegedly stated that he wanted to stand in front of a justice’s house with other Vietnam War veterans and “riddle” the property with bullets from an AR-15 rifle.
In another message, allegedly sent on July 5, Anastasiou wrote: “We need to make the [Supreme Court Justices 1-6] too afraid to leave their homes and fear for their lives every day,” according to court records.
According to the charges, Anastasiou threatened to kill Supreme Court justices and Trump, and the threats coincided with the release of key court rulings.
Anastasiou faces 13 charges of making threats and 9 charges for threats against federal judges. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 155 years in prison. He pleaded not guilty to the 22 charges he faces.
“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,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the charges.
“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.”
Surging threats against officials
The Washington Post notes Anastasiou’s arrest comes as threats against local and federal officials are surging. Congress in June heard that the Justice Department has established a threats task force and said his agency intends to investigate and prosecute such threats aggressively.
In May, a Queens man pleaded guilty in D.C. to threatening to kill a congressional aide and making more than 12,000 harassing phone calls to members of Congress.
In 2022, a man with a gun and knife was arrested outside of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s Maryland home. And in the past 10 weeks, there have been two apparent assassination attempts against former president Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.