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CBS News reported that a man from Alaska was arrested for allegedly threatening to assassinate six members of the Supreme Court and harm two family members. The Justice Department said that Panos Anastasiou, 76, is accused of sending more than 465 messages to the Supreme Court through an online portal, which included violent, racist, and homophobic rhetoric.
Per Reuters, federal prosecutors say that Anastasiou sent the messages to the Supreme Court through its website beginning in March 2023, which turned increasingly violent starting in January 2024. Anastasiou began sending “concerning messages” to the Supreme Court in the spring of 2023, with the Justice Department sharing that the messages took an “even more violent turn” in January. In addition to threatening justices with “lynching,” court filings show he advocated for “mass assassinations” and called for “patriotic” Americans to kill members of the high court.
According to court filings, in the 22-count indictment Anastasiou allegedly threatened to assassinate, kidnap, torture, hang, behead and execute the justices, and encouraged other people to join him in committing acts of violence. The targeted justices are not named in the indictment and identified only as “Supreme Court justices 1-6.” Some of the threats allegedly made by Anastasiou “were intended to intimidate the justices and retaliate against them for official actions” they had taken in their capacity as judges.
Anastasiou faces nine counts of making threats against a federal judge and 13 counts of making threats in interstate commerce; he pleaded not guilty during a court hearing in Anchorage on Wednesday. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement: “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. 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.”
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