Justice Barrett’s sister targeted with bomb threat in South Carolina

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The sister of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was the target of a bomb threat at her home earlier this month in Charleston, South Carolina, police said Wednesday.

Charleston police responded on March 10 to a politically charged email threat sent regarding Amanda Coney Williams, according to a police report reviewed by CNN. No bomb was recovered at the home. Williams is also an attorney.

“I’ve constructed a pipe bomb which I recently placed in Amy Coney Barrett’s sister’s mailbox at her home,” the email read. “The device’s detonation will be triggered as soon as the mailbox is next opened. Free Palestine!”

An investigation is ongoing, Charleston police said. An initial police report said Williams herself received the email, but a subsequent report said that she never received the message. An email was sent to the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, police said.

The threat came at a moment when federal judges across the country are facing an uptick in threats – and increasingly charged political rhetoric about their rulings.

Barrett, who President Donald Trump nominated to the high court during his first term, has recently faced criticism from conservative circles for her recent vote in a procedural emergency order that required the president to quickly spend foreign aid money that the administration tried to freeze. There is no indication that threat on Barrett’s sister is tied to that case.

Speaking at a public event in Colorado last year, Barrett described being sent home with a bulletproof vest but did not detail the reason for that measure.

The police report noted that the Williams family told investigators someone had ordered pizza to “some households related” to Barrett last weekend. Some federal judges have received pizzas at their homes, according to a recent report in Reuters, which authorities have interpreted as a form of intimidation.

A spokeswoman for the Supreme Court declined to comment.

CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with additional developments.