🔗 Share this article

Donald Trump rarely accepts advice, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm methods employed by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's social media statement last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during online attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened climate of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in multiple countries, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a second term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

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 observing at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the executive has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments 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 international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a assailant targeting Salas.

“Everyone knows 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 Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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