🔗 Share this article

The US President does not usually take counsel, particularly from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a different strategy by urging the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, such as an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's latest remarks occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm methods used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media call last week was just the latest in a string of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists state that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

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

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration is observing at these achievements and failures. 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 relentless assertions of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

“All understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the administration’s aims, the expert said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently