Alaska Man Charged With Threatening 6 Supreme Court Justices

A 76-year-old convicted drug dealer from Alaska has been arrested after threatening to kill, drown, torture and lynch six Supreme Court justices and two of their family members, the Justice Department said on Thursday.

The indictment left the justices unnamed, though the court is dominated by a six-member conservative majority. It remained unclear whether the man, Panos Anastasiou, came close to carrying out his threats, and public records indicate that he is not affiliated with any political party.

Mr. Anastasiou is accused of sending more than 465 threatening messages from March 10, 2023, to July 16 of this year using the court’s public website. He pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to nine counts of making threats against a federal judge and 13 counts of making threats in interstate commerce. If convicted on all counts, he could face up to 155 years in prison.

The messages “contained violent, racist and homophobic rhetoric coupled with threats of assassination via torture, hanging and firearms, and encouraged others to participate in the acts of violence,” the indictment said.

Mr. Anastasiou’s arrest comes as threats to public officials have escalated and after lawmakers expanded security for the justices in 2022, on the heels of the leak of a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade.

In April, a Florida man was sentenced to 14 months in prison for leaving a threatening message for one of the Supreme Court justices, later identified as Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. In June 2022, a man from California armed with a gun and knife was arrested outside the Maryland home of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. And in the past two months, there have been two apparent assassination attempts against former President Donald J. Trump.