Florida man sentenced to prison for threatening to kill Supreme Court justice

A Florida man was sentenced to over a year in prison for threatening to kill a Supreme Court justice, the Justice Department (DOJ) announced Tuesday. 

United States District Judge Marcia Morales Howard sentenced Neal Brij Sidhwaney, 43, of Fernandina Beach, Fla. to 14 months in prison. 

Sidhwaney pleaded guilty to one count of making an interstate threat to injure back in December. 

Sidhwaney placed a call to the U.S. Supreme Court in July and left an “expletive-laden, threatening voicemail message.” He made the threat twice. 

Sidhwaney targeted Chief Justice John Roberts. Sidhwaney identified himself by name and told the U.S. Marshals to give the message to Roberts that “I will f‑‑‑ing kill you,” per court documents. Sidhwaney was arrested in August. 

Sidhwaney’s arrest came less than a year after Nicholas John Roske was arrested for allegedly attempting to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Roske’s arrest in June 2022 shortly followed a leak of the Supreme Court’s draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Threats against public officials have risen in the past decade. 

Since 2013, 501 threats against public officials have ended up with federal charges, per a report by the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education (NCITE) Center.

The report noted the threats spiked in 2017 and 2021, years following national election cycles. Threats against the military and law enforcement — which included judges and prosecutors — were the most common when examining threats against public officials, according to the report.