🔗 Share this article

The US President is not typically known for advice, particularly from international figures who often seek to praise and admire the American leader.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by urging the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's recent intervention occur of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar strong-arm tactics used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement last week was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid online criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power recently, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in recent years in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

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

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a assailant aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the administration’s objectives, the expert said that “impeaching a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently