U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a news conference on Jan. 12, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
This article refers to violent and racist language, which has been redacted.
A 76-year-old Anchorage man has been released on bond after allegedly threatening to kidnap, torture and murder six U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Panos Anastasiou has been charged with 22 crimes after sending over 465 threatening messages to members of the court, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday.
“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,” said he said in a prepared statement. “Our justice system depends on the ability of judges to make their decisions based on the law, and not on fear. Our democracy depends on the ability of public officials to do their jobs without fearing for their lives or the safety of their families.”
It was not immediately clear which of the court’s nine justices had been the target of threats.
Anastasiou was arrested Wednesday at his home in Anchorage’s Spenard neighborhood but was released from jail after a detention hearing Thursday.
His federal public defender, Jane Imholte, declined comment on the case when reached by email.
A Vietnam War veteran, Anastasiou came to regret his military service, the Anchorage Daily News reported, citing Facebook posts in which Anastasiou said that Supreme Court rulings had turned America into a police state.
According to federal court filings, Anastasiou began sending messages to the court in 2023, an act that sparked a federal law-enforcement investigation. Despite a visit from FBI agents in Anchorage, the messages continued, with Anastasiou “daring” the justices to visit his home.
After the start of 2024, the messages became increasingly violent.
A message sent May 10 said, “‘Subject: N***** [Supreme Court Justice 1]’, ‘I’d like to see you have a real lynching and I’ll donate the tree and pull the lever.’”
Six days later, another message said, “I would have had NO reservations about walking up to [Supreme Court Justice 2] and not asking him to take it down but to put a BULLET in this mother f***** head.”
Expletives have been redacted from both messages, as have the names of the relevant justices.
According to court documents, Anastasiou has admitted sending the messages, which came from a computer whose IP address was traced to Anastasiou’s home.
State records show Anastasiou is registered as a nonpartisan voter. Records filed with the Federal Elections Commission list about $800 in combined donations since 2016 to ActBlue, a fundraising service operated by the Democratic Party.
State campaign finance records show no activity by Anastasiou, and his state legislators said they were unfamiliar with him.
Anastasiou’s alleged threats appear to be part of a larger trend. In February, the U.S. Marshals Service reported that the number of threats targeting federal judges had more than doubled over the previous three years.
The number of threats against elected officials is also on the rise, and Anastasiou is not the first Alaskan to be charged with federal crimes as a result of alleged threats.
In 2022, a Delta Junction man was sentenced to 32 months in prison and a $5,000 fine after admitting he threatened to murder U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan.
Eric Hafner, one of four candidates in Alaska’s U.S. House election, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after sending a wave of death threats to public officials in New Jersey.
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