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The US President does not usually take counsel, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader 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 American court system also received support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian methods used by rulers in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media call recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid online criticism on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

Experts say that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their claim that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection 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 hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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