Sept 19 (Askume) – An Alaska man has been arrested for using violent and racist language in online messages to threaten to assault, kidnap and kill six U.S. Supreme Court justices and some of their family members.
Panos Anastasiou, 76, was arrested Wednesday after prosecutors said he sent more than 465 messages through the Supreme Court’s website between March 2023 and January 2024. The messages became increasingly violent.
The 22-count indictment does not name the judge or family members . But some of them seemed concerned about the Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority.
“Americans have no confidence in you,” Anastasio allegedly wrote in a message sent after his term ends on July 3, 2024. “There is intense discussion on the internet about Americans calling for your assassination.”
He pleaded not guilty during a court hearing in Anchorage on Wednesday. Anastasio’s attorney declined to comment. The Supreme Court did not respond to a request for comment.
The case comes amid a rise in threats against judges and lower court judges across the country . The US Marshals Service said the number of serious threats against federal judges rose to 457 in fiscal year 2023, up from 224 in fiscal year 2021.
In 2022, an armed California man accused of trying to assassinate conservative judge Brett Kavanaugh was arrested near his home. The man , Nicholas Roeske, has pleaded innocent and is awaiting trial.
Prosecutors said Anastasio’s threats included a January threat in which he said he wanted to see a judge (whom he referred to by a racist epithet in other messages) hanged from a tree along with a former president .
According to court documents, Anastasio used racist slurs and threats against the judge and his “white,” “rebellious wife” in various messages about her .
Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly called on conservative Black judge Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from cases related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol after text messages appeared to show his white wife, Ginni Thomas, being sexually assaulted.This effort was shown to be encouraging. Failure in the general election.
Prosecutors said Anastasio wrote on May 17, 2024, that he hoped the judge and his wife would go to the home of another “abusive” judge and his wife, while also hoping a Vietnam veteran like him would be shot at 15:30 p.m.
A day earlier, The New York Times reported that an upside-down American flag was seen at Judge Samuel Alito’s Virginia home following the January 6 riot, which Alito blamed on his wife.
The case is United States v. Anastasio, United States District Court for the District of Alaska, No. 3:24-cr-00099.
From the United States: William Taylor, US Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska
Anastasio: Jane Imholte of the Federal Defender’s Office
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