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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president 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 previously boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm methods employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for impeachment 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 threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

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

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples 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 legislation that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the debate by emphasizing their claim that the executive has greater authority 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 capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

“All understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

On the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently