🔗 Share this article

The US President does not usually take counsel, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar authoritarian methods employed by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media statement recently was just the latest in a string of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also made during online criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send troops into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to returning to power this year, the president urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

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

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts say that the threats are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of broad executive power, she added: “They openly 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 debate by emphasizing their argument that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances 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 hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies 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 rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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