An Alaska man has been charged for threatening to torture and kill six Supreme Court justices, the Justice Department said on Thursday.
Between March 2023 and July 2024, 76-year-old Panos Anastasiou sent over 465 messages through the court’s website, in which he graphically described violent acts he would like to commit against the justices and their family members.
The names of the specific justices who received threats have not been made public.
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The Justice Department said in its release that the often racist and homophobic messages threatened “assassination by torture, hanging, and firearms.”
Anastasiou was charged with nine counts of making threats against a federal judge and 13 counts of making threats in interstate commerce, facing a maximum total sentence of 155 years. On Wednesday, he pleaded not guilty.
Excerpts from some of the messages were shared in a court filing by Assistant U.S. Attorney William A. Taylor, who is prosecuting the case.
“WE NEED MASS ASSASSINATIONS. If you’re corrupt you’re corrupt,” Anastasiou wrote in one.
In others, he referred to a justice using the N-word and threatened lynching.
On July 5, he wrote of his desire to make the six justices “AFRAID very AFRAID to leave their home and fear for their lives everyday.”
Newsweek reported that although Anastasiou is not publicly registered to a political party, he has donated over $700 to Democratic platforms over the past eight years, and as recently as July 25.
USA Today also noted that when the court splits ideologically, there are six conservative justices—the same as the number threatened by Anastasiou.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland released a statement expressing his concern over the threats.
“Our justice system depends on the ability of judges to make their decisions based on the law, and not on fear,” he said. “Our democracy depends on the ability of public officials to do their jobs without fearing for their lives or the safety of their families.”
