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The US President does not usually take guidance, especially from foreign leaders who frequently seek to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, including an X post by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement recently was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases 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

Specialists say that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls 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.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration is observing at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would undermine the courts,” she said.

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

“They continue to redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

“All understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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