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The US President does not usually take counsel, particularly from international figures who often seek to praise and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's online call last week was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid online attacks on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, the president directed his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to 395 US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in recent years in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration is observing at these successes and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the debate by repeating their argument that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation 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 court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant aiming at the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the administration’s objectives, the expert said that “removing a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently