🔗 Share this article

Donald Trump rarely accepts advice, especially from international figures who often seek to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to take action 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 Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the threats are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple countries, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation 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 dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating over and over 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 president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

On the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently