🔗 Share this article

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

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online statement last week was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid online criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

Based on information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a second term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements selected by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by repeating their claim that the president has more power than this other co-equal 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 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, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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