A Democratic donor from Alaska was arrested on Wednesday after allegedly threatening to “injure and kill” six justices on the U.S. Supreme Court and the family members of Supreme Court justices.
In a Thursday press release, the U.S. Department of Justice announced, “An Alaska man was arrested yesterday in Anchorage for allegedly threatening to injure and kill six U.S. Supreme Court Justices and some of their family members.”
The press release noted that 76-year-old Panos Anastasiou sent over 465 messages through a public website to the Supreme Court between March 10, 2023, and July 16, 2024. The Justice Department explained that starting in January, the 76-year-old’s messages “allegedly escalated to messages intending to threaten harm toward the victims.” The Justice Department said 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 Garland said in Thursday’s press release. “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.”
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According to The Post Millennial, Anastasiou has donated more than $700 to ActBlue, a popular Democrat fundraising platform. The outlet noted that since July of 2023, Anastasiou made dozens of donations to the platform, while making 82 total donations since December of 2016.
A grand jury indictment of Anastasiou claims that the 76-year-old’s threats at the Supreme Court Justices were intended to “intimidate” and “retaliate against them for official actions Supreme Court Justices 1-6 had taken in their official capacity as federal judges.”
In one of the messages sent by Anastasiou to “Supreme Court Justice 1,” the suspect threatened to murder the justice by “providing the rope” to “hang … from an Oak tree.” In another message, Anastasiou allegedly threatened to murder “Supreme Court Justice 2” by “putting a bullet in his … head.”
The 76-year-old suspect also threatened to have “fellow veterans” go to the homes of two of the justices and their family members and “spray” them with bullets to kill them.
According to the Justice Department, Anastasiou could face up to 10 years in prison for each of the nine counts he has been charged with for making threats against a federal judge and up to five years in prison for each of the 13 counts he has been charged with for making threats in interstate commerce.
