A Florida man has pleaded guilty to threatening the life of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, facing a possible sentence of five years in a federal prison.
Neal Brij Sidhwaney, a 43-year-old resident of Fernandina Beach, pleaded guilty to the charge of transmitting an interstate threat to kill, according to a statement released Monday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
Prosecutors say Sidhwaney called the U.S. Supreme Court on July 31 and left what authorities described as “an expletive-laden, threatening voicemail message.”
“On the voicemail message, Sidhwaney identified himself by name and repeatedly threatened to kill a specific Supreme Court Justice,” stated the office.
“This case was investigated by the Supreme Court of the United States Police – Protective Intelligence Unit with assistance from the United States Capitol Police –Threat Assessment Section.”
A date for sentencing has not been set yet, according to authorities.
Although the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not name the threatened justice, a competency assessment of Sidhwaney filed in federal court by psychologist Alan J. Harris stated that the defendant was charged with threatening Roberts.
“The identified official is Chief Justice John Roberts, whom he allegedly contacted by phone call and threatened to kill,” stated the competency assessment.
Harris found Sidhwaney competent to stand trial but added that he suffers from “delusional disorder with psychosis.”
In recent years, the Supreme Court has seen an apparent uptick in threats against its members, namely those who lean conservative in their judicial opinions.
A contributing factor has reportedly been the high court’s June 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 opinion that declared abortion a constitutional right. The 2022 ruling paved the way for several states to ban abortion in nearly all circumstances.
Last year, in response to the leaking of a draft opinion in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned Roe, a man was arrested for plotting to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
In October 2022, Justice Samuel Alito told those gathered at a Heritage Foundation event that the leaking of the draft opinion made members of the high court “targets for assassination.”
“The leak also made those of us who were thought to be in the majority in support of overruling Roe and [Planned Parenthood v. Casey] targets for assassination, because it gave people a rational reason to think they could prevent that from happening by killing one of us,” said Alito at the time.
Alito also told the Heritage crowd that everyone, from the justices to their staff, just “want things to get back to normal the way they were before all this last term.”
In March, the Supreme Court filed a request with Congress to allocate an additional $12.4 million for Fiscal Year 2024 to improve security.
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