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Death threats made against federal judges are on the rise, and even Supreme Court justices have found themselves on the receiving end of these violent messages — including Chief Justice John Roberts.
Earlier this week, Florida resident Neal Brij Sidhwaney, 43, was sentenced to 14 months in prison after threatening to kill Roberts in a voicemail left for the chief justice at the Supreme Court. In late 2023, Sidhwaney pleaded guilty to transmitting an interstate threat to kill. Reuters has additional details:
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[Sidhwaney] has been in custody since his arrest on Aug. 18, about two weeks after he placed a call to the Supreme Court on July 21 and left a threatening voice mail for Roberts saying, among other things, “I will f—— kill you,” prosecutors said.
Roberts was not identified by name in the indictment, which called him only “Victim 1.” But a court-ordered psychological evaluation that was docketed in September before being later sealed identified Roberts as the threat’s recipient.
In the evaluation, a psychologist noted that Sidhwaney suffered from “delusional disorder with psychosis” and had a “paranoid belief system,” even while medicated. Sidhwaney’s mother said that her son writes letters and emails and make phone calls after watching the news, which “enrage[s]” him.
Roberts is not the first Supreme Court justice to face such threats. In 2022, an armed man was arrested near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home and later charged with attempting to assassinate Kavanaugh after telling police that he wanted to kill him. The high court has accordingly requested funding to increase security for justices and other federal judges due to the rise in these dangerous threats.
Man gets 14 months in prison for threat to U.S. Supreme Court’s Roberts [Reuters]
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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.