Alaskan Man Charged for Threats to Assassinate Supreme Court Justices (Update: ActBlue)

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

There seems to be a lot of murderous rage going around. This particular case involves a 76-year-old man in Alaska who made hundreds of threats against Supreme Court Justices, starting last year.

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According to court documents, between March 10, 2023, and July 16, Panos Anastasiou, 76, sent over 465 messages to the Supreme Court through a public website the court maintained.

“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 Attorney General Merrick B. Garland...

Beginning on Jan. 4, Anastasiou’s messages allegedly escalated to messages intending to threaten harm toward the victims. The messages contained violent, racist, and homophobic rhetoric coupled with threats of assassination by torture, hanging, and firearms.

The DOJ press release doesn't say which justices received the threats and it doesn't say which decisions Anastasiou was upset about. However, there is a clue in one detail mentioned in the release. He targeted six of the nine justices.

The targeted justices are not named in the indictment and identified only as "Supreme Court justices 1-6."...

In one of the messages, sent Jan. 4, Anastasiou allegedly threatened to murder one justice by "providing the rope" to "hang … from an Oak tree." Another on May 10 included a threat to kill the same justice by "lynching."

Court filings state that in a May 16 message referring to a second member of the Supreme Court, Anastasiou allegedly threatened to kill the justice by "putting a bullet in his … head."

Obviously, the current court has a 6-3 conservative majority. So either this guy was lashing out indiscriminately at justices on both sides, which is possible, or he was targeting the six conservatives. We've seen the conservatives targeted before.

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It has been just over two years since a man named Nicholas Roske was arrested outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh's home. Roske had traveled from southern California to the east coast with the intention of murdering Kavanaugh over the court's forthcoming abortion decision. Just two months ago his case finally started moving toward a trial.

A California man accused of attempting to murder Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh two years ago appears headed for trial after protracted plea negotiations failed to yield a deal, a court filing from prosecutors Friday said.

Nicholas Roske was arrested near Kavanaugh’s suburban Maryland home in the early morning hours on June 8, 2022, while allegedly carrying a Glock pistol, a tactical knife, two magazines of ammunition, pepper spray, a hammer, a screwdriver, a crow bar, duct tape and soft-soled boots that can be used to move quietly.

Roske's trial has now been set for next summer:

A trial is scheduled to start in June 2025 for a California man charged with trying to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his home in a suburb of Washington, D.C...

Killing one jurist could change the decisions of the court “for decades to come,” Roske wrote online before adding, “I am shooting for three,” according to authorities.

The current case involving Panos Anastasiou didn't go that far but 465 messages does suggest he was pretty unhinged. We'll have to wait for a bit more information about his motive. If this does turn out to be aimed at the court's conservatives, you probably will not see anyone at a major media outlet implicating the ongoing, big money campaign by progressives to discredit them.

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Demand Justice, a progressive judicial advocacy group, is mounting a major effort to advocate for Supreme Court reforms and prepare for the effects a second Trump administration could have on the judiciary...

“Our democracy is in an absolute crisis, and the Supreme Court majority is accelerating it,” said Skye Perryman, Demand Justice’s new senior advisor...

“We have a court that is not protecting our democratic institutions,” she said, also citing the court’s past and anticipated decisions affecting abortion, health care, worker protections and voting rights.

It's very nearly the same rhetoric the left has been directing at Donald Trump, i.e. democracy is under threat. It's pretty strange that no one in the media thinks language like this could possibly be a problem.

Update: Here's another hint about the suspect's motive. He was upset about the presidential immunity ruling. [emphasis added]

In recent months, the suspect seemed particularly angry about the Supreme Court’s decision to expand presidential immunity, ruling that presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for acts that are considered official parts of their duties...

WE NEED MASS ASSASSINATIONS. If you’re corrupt you’re corrupt,” the suspect allegedly wrote in an expletive-filled message to the Supreme Court that included an apparent reference to “official and unofficial” acts. “The internet is abuzz with Americans clamoring for your ASSASSINATIONS.”

Update: Here's a copy of the court document posted by the Daily Caller. It's pretty clear that this guy's murderous rage was directed at former president Trump as well as the six (still unnamed) justices.

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January 4, 2024: “I’d like to see [Former President 1 and Supreme Court Justice 1] hanging together from an Oak tree. I’d gladly provide the rope and pull the handle.”...

July 1, 2024: “ASSASSINATING THESE C***SUCKERS IS THE ONLY PANACEA… that includes the CONVICTED CRIMINAL, [Former President 1]. Again as an AMERICAN and to defend the constitution and democracy I want the assassinations by any ENTITY of the government or even a PATRIOTIC AMERICAN to commence.

He's saying this is necessary "to defend...democracy." Where have I heard that language before?

Update: And he was a donor to ActBlue.

Anastasiou has no public party voter registration, according to records obtained by Newsweek. However, according to the Federal Election Commission, he has donated $786 to ActBlue, a fundraising platform for Democratic candidates. The most recent donation was on July 25. On March 8, he donated his highest amount of $50.

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