The ideological left's increasingly violent rhetoric against their political opponents, which has likely already led to at least two known assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump, has gotten completely out of hand.

On Wednesday, an Alaska man was arrested by the FBI for repeatedly threatening to assassinate, kidnap, lynch, and torture six Supreme Court justices and two of their family members, SCOTUSblog reported.

Though federal authorities did not specifically identify which six justices had allegedly been threatened, the context of some of the reported threats makes it clear that the man was targeting the six conservative-leaning, Republican-appointed members of the high bench, as well as former President Trump.

Serious threats of harm, assassination

The Department of Justice announced on Thursday that Panos Anastasiou, 76, of Anchorage, Alaska, was taken into custody one day earlier and has been charged with nine counts of making threats against a federal judge and 13 counts of making threats in interstate commerce.

Beginning in March 2023 and continuing through July 2024, Anastasiou sent at least 465 messages through the Supreme Court's website that, starting in January 2024, escalated in threats of physical harm and "contained violent, racist, and homophobic rhetoric coupled with threats of assassination by torture, hanging, and firearms."

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement, "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."

"Our justice system depends on the ability of judges to make their decisions based on the law, and not on fear. Our democracy depends on the ability of public officials to do their jobs without fearing for their lives or the safety of their families," he added.

If convicted of the charges, as laid out in an 11-page indictment, Anastasiou faces maximum sentences of up to 10 years for each count of threatening a federal judge and up to five years for each count of making threats through interstate commerce, for a possible combined total of 155 years behind bars.

Released on bond despite prosecutors' concerns

Incredibly, the Alaska Beacon reported that Anastasiou was released on bond on Thursday following a detention hearing, despite federal prosecutors urging the court to keep him detained pending trial.

A five-page filing from prosecutors argued that the defendant should remain in custody because there was a "serious risk that the defendant will flee, because he has a demonstrated history of disregard for the authority of federal courts and will be unlikely to obey court orders," as well as a "serious risk that the defendant will obstruct or attempt to obstruct justice, or threaten, injure, or intimidate, or attempt to threaten, injure, or intimidate, a prospective witness or juror, because he exposes a persistent and obsessive desire to cause harm to his victims and encourage others to harm the victims as well."

The filing noted that Anastasiou was visited by FBI agents shortly after he began to send threatening messages to the Supreme Court but persisted and even escalated his violent rhetoric to include the investigative bureau and "daring" authorities to visit him personally again.

The document also included a sampling of the repeated threats and, based on the context of his remarks, it was obvious that his main targets were Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito and their wives, as well as the other four conservative-leaning jurists plus former President Trump.

Evidence of defendant's guilt, partisan leaning

The Beacon reported that Anastasiou is a Vietnam veteran who lives in Anchorage and, though he is registered as a nonpartisan voter, has contributed around $800 to Democratic candidates through the ActBlue fundraising platform since 2016.

It also noted that there appears to be little doubt of his guilt, as the prosecution's filing explained that the defendant admitted to sending the threatening messages, the IP address led to his residence, and the email address from which the messages were sent contained his name.