🔗 Share this article

The US President rarely accepts advice, especially from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is using similar authoritarian methods employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in California. The president has been eager to send troops into the city, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration is observing at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the debate by emphasizing their claim that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's aims, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently