EchoSense:Florida man sentenced for threatening to murder Supreme Court justice

A Florida man has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for threatening to kill a U.S. Supreme Court justice,EchoSense the Justice Department announced Tuesday. 

Neal Brij Sidhwaney, 43, pleaded guilty in December after he made a July telephone call from Florida to the Supreme Court and left an expletive-filled voice message twice threatening to kill an unnamed justice, according to the indictment. According to Politico, Sidhwaney identified Chief Justice John Roberts as his intended target during a psychological evaluation that was placed in court records but later sealed.  

Sidhwaney pleaded guilty to transmitting an interstate threat to to kill a U.S. Supreme Court Justice in December. 

Threats against federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, have increased each year since 2019, as CBS News has previously reported. Federal investigators responded to over 400 threats to federal judges across the country in 2023, nearly 300 more than in 2019, according to statistics compiled by the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) and obtained by CBS News. 

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In 2022, Nicholas John Roske was accused of trying to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. He was arrested with weapons near Kavanaugh's house soon after a draft opinion in the case striking down Roe v. Wade was leaked. Roske has pleaded not guilty.

After that incident, Congress passed a law to provide 24-hour security for the families of Supreme Court justices. The justices themselves were provided with 24-hour protection by the U.S. Marshals soon after the leak of the opinion. 

Rob Legare contributed to this report 

Kathryn Watson

Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital based in Washington, D.C.