Alaska man arrested for threatening to kill U.S. Supreme Court justices and their families

An Alaska man was arrested this Wednesday in the town of Anchorage for allegedly threatening to injure and kill six justices of the U.S. Supreme Court and some of their relatives.

According to court documents, between March 10, 2023 and July 16, 2023, Panos Anastasiou, 76, sent more than 465 messages to the Supreme Court through a public website maintained by the court.

“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 B. Garland said in a statement released on the DOJ’s official website.

The indictments say the American justice system “depends on the ability of judges to make decisions based on the law and not fear. Our democracy depends on the ability of public officials to do their jobs without fearing for their lives,” and the safety of their families.

Beginning on Jan. 4, Anastasiou's messages allegedly escalated to messages intended to threaten harm to victims. The messages contained violent, racist and homophobic rhetoric, accompanied by threats of murder through torture, hanging and firearms.

Anastasiou is indicted on nine counts of threatening a federal judge and 13 counts of threatening in interstate commerce. The defendant appeared for the first time yesterday before Federal Magistrate Kyle F. Reardon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska.

If convicted, Anastasiou faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each count of threatening a federal judge and a maximum sentence of five years in prison for each count of threatening interstate commerce. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence after considering the United States Sentencing Guidelines and other legal factors.

The U.S. Supreme Court Police Protective Intelligence Unit, a specialty unit of the judicial branch’s law enforcement unit, is investigating the case, with support from the nation's U.S. Marshals Service  and the FBI Anchorage Field Office, they announced.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Will Taylor for the District of Alaska is prosecuting the case.