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The US President rarely accepts counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, including an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team 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 government oversight.

Bukele's online call last week was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid social media attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power this year, the president directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to 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, giving rise to 805 inquiries. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top 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 cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists 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 comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

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

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians 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 undermine the courts,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant aiming at Salas.

“Everyone understands 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 Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's aims, Scheppele said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently