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The US President rarely accepts counsel, particularly from international figures who often seek to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm methods employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online call recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt deportation flights 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 online attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, Trump 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 pointed to a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to data gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts state that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been common in recent years in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state 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 system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

“The government is looking around 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 instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of broad executive power, she added: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

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 Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 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 presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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