🔗 Share this article

The US President is not typically known for guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to praise and admire the US president.

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

The call for the president to move against the US judiciary also received backing from Trump allies, such as an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using comparable strong-arm tactics used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media call recently was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid online attacks on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to send troops into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Before returning to power this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several nations, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by Bukele.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had learned from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

“The government is looking around at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Citing instances such as Miller’s persistent assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They directly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats 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 murdered at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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