🔗 Share this article

Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, particularly from international figures who frequently seek to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable authoritarian methods employed by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's online call last week was just the latest in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

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

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists say that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in multiple countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration is looking around 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.

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They openly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the debate by emphasizing their argument that the president 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 authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's aims, Scheppele said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently