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The US President rarely accepts counsel, especially from international figures who often attempt to praise and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm tactics used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's social media call last week was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid social media criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

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

Increasing Threat Statistics

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 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

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

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Experts state that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with rising violent posts on social media.” It recorded “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 initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after starting a second 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 justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

“The government is looking around at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine 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' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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