🔗 Share this article

Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, particularly from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a different approach by urging the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an social media message by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar authoritarian tactics used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's online statement recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during online criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially 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 small, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

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

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

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

In several years ago, right after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries 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.

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

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

Government Goals

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