Authorities have uncovered another threat to the life of a Supreme Court justice.
Neal Sidhwaney, 43, of Florida plead guilty Friday in a Jacksonville federal court to threatening to kill a Supreme Court justice, according to Politico. That threat was made via phone, in voicemail messages left on July 31, the publication reported.
Though prosecutors did not identify which justice Sidhwaney had reportedly threatened, a court-ordered psychological evaluation reviewed by Politico reveals that Sidhwaney had threatened Chief Justice John Roberts, saying in the voice message: “I will f—ing kill you.”
Authorities arrested him in August, and he has been in custody since, according to the publication.
It’s not immediately clear why he allegedly wanted to kill the justice. The threats followed the most recent slew of Supreme Court rulings issued in late June, one of which was 303 Creative v. Elenis, in which the Supreme Court ruled that Colorado cannot force graphic designer Lorie Smith to create art that violates her religious beliefs.
In a late July interview with The Daily Signal, Smith described receiving a steady stream of vitriol, harassment, anger, and even death threats. “A lot of that has resulted in some of the backlash I’ve received, which, unfortunately, has included things like death threats,” she said.
“A lot of the threats have alluded to the fact that people have my home address and have posted that address on social media in an effort to encourage others to send hateful messages,” Smith added. “It’s coming from all angles, really, whether it be phone, email, mail, my website, social media.”
The psychologist who evaluated Sidhwaney said that he was of “superior” intelligence and competent to stand trial, Politico reported. But Sidhwaney suffers from “delusional disorder with psychosis,” the psychologist reportedly said, and his doctor told the publication that he is under treatment with an anti-psychotic drug.
Supreme Court cases have increasingly become fraught with peril for conservative justices and those litigants who do not harbor leftist sentiments. Litigants face potential death threats, protesting, harassment, and “doxxing” (putting their personal information, even their addresses, online to encourage harassment).
Following the May 2022 leak to Politico of the draft Supreme Court opinion indicating Roe v. Wade would soon be overturned, Catholic churches and pro-life pregnancy centers faced an onslaught of violent pro-abortion attacks.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s family discovered that in the middle of the night authorities had arrested a man just steps from their home—Nicholas John Roske, then 26, who had traveled from California to Maryland with the express intent of killing Kavanaugh and two other justices.
Roske told authorities that his assassination ambitions flared up after he saw the justices’ addresses posted online. Shortly after the leak, the radical pro-abortion group Ruth Sent Us posted the justices’ addresses and began urging protesters to go to the homes of the “six extremist justices” who likely voted in support of the opinion overturning Roe—Roberts and Kavanaugh, along with Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch.
Far-left protesters from Our Rights DC and Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights joined these groups in targeting the justices’ homes, even though 18 U.S. Code Section 1507 forbids picketing or parading “in or near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge, juror, witness, or court officer” with the intent of intimidating or influencing that person.
The Supreme Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this article.
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