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The US President does not usually take advice, especially from international figures who frequently seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's recent intervention occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid social media criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

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 highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

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

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument 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 public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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