Alaska man charged with making death threats against Supreme Court justices

An Alaska man has been charged with sending racist and violent threats against all six Supreme Court justices and their family members.

Federal prosecutors in Anchorage are asking a judge to keep Panos Anastasiou, 76, locked up pending trial because of the graphic threats, which they say escalated after FBI agents questioned him about messages he sent through the Supreme Court website.

He was charged with threatening to assault, kidnap and kill the six judges, as well as some of their family members, and has pleaded not guilty.

“We allege that the defendant has made repeated and heinous threats of murder and torture against Supreme Court justices and their families in retaliation against them for decisions with which he disagreed,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement, adding that “democracy depends on the ability of public servants to do their jobs without fear for their lives or the safety of their families.”

Court documents in the case allege that Anastasiou sent more than 465 messages to the High Court via its public website between March 10, 2023 and July 16, 2024.

In January, the threats escalated, including threats to assassinate the judges. Anastasiou also made lynching threats and used the word “Negro” in statements targeting a judge identified as “Supreme Court Justice 1” in the indictment, apparently referring to Clarence Thomas, who is black.

The messages also contained racial, homophobic and misogynistic slurs, according to the filings.

Anastasiou’s attorney, Jane Imholte of the federal public defender’s office in Alaska, declined to comment. Anastasiou is expected to appear in court later Thursday for a detention hearing.

Prosecutors say Anastasiou should remain in custody because he “poses a risk that he will continue to threaten federal officials” and said there “is also a danger that he may wish to inflict some form of violence on those he has already threatened.”

The filing adds that “the evidence of guilt is overwhelming” in this case. “The defendant admitted to sending the messages, the IP information leads to his home, and the email address contains the defendant’s name,” the filing states.