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The US President does not usually take guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to praise and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to move against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, including an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using similar strong-arm methods used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement last week was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt deportation flights sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid online attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Before returning to power recently, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the White House.

Rising Risk Data

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

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

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

The professor said: “Justices' 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 judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

On the administration’s objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently