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The US President is not typically known for guidance, particularly from international figures who frequently seek to praise and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement recently was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made amid social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, Trump directed his supporters 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 heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

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

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

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

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

“The administration is looking around at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate 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 Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

“All understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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