🔗 Share this article

Donald Trump does not usually take advice, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has in the past amplified Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's recent remarks occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is using similar authoritarian tactics used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to 395 US justices, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of 630 threats.

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 cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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