Sept. 19 (UPI) — The Justice Department Thursday reported the arrest of an Alaska man Wednesday for allegedly threatening to injure and kill six U.S. Supreme Court Justices and some of their family members.
Panos Anastasiou, 76, sent more than 465 threatening messages via a Supreme Court website to the justices, according to court documents.
He is charged with nine counts of threatening a federal judge and thirteen counts of making threats in interstate commerce.
He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on the threatening judges charges and up to five years in prison for the other 13 counts.
According to the DOJ, Anastasiou’s messages contained “violent, racist and homophobic rhetoric coupled with threats of assassination by torture, hanging and firearms.”
“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. “Our justice system depends on the ability of judges to make their decisions based on the law, and not on fear.”
Garland added that, “Our democracy depends on the ability of public officials to do their jobs without fearing for their lives or the safety of their families.”
As America continues to be sharply polarized politically violent rhetoric and threats are on the rise in the United States.
A Virginia man was arrested in August for allegedly making viciously violent threats against Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, threatening to “personally pluck out her eyes.”
Frank Lucio Carillo, 66, made the alleged threats on the right-wing social media platform Gettr, according to the DOJ.
In July the nonprofit public interest research organization Advance Democracy said judges in cases involving Donald Trump have been subjected to threats
Colorado Supreme Court justices, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkin and New York justice Arthur Engoron got death threats, bomb threats or were “swatted” as they presided over Trump cases.
In March the Biden administration Election Threats Task Force’s John Keller said dozens of investigations had been opened in to threats against election workers.
A Gallup Poll in July 2023 found that Americans have little faith in American societal institutions, particularly the U.S. Supreme Court and the presidency.
Gallup said the average confidence in major U.S. institutions fell to an all-time low of 26%.
This month Springfield Ohio was the target of bomb threats impacting schools, City Hall, and the local BMV following false heated political comments about Haitian migrants in the city.
