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Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

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

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's recent intervention occur 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 tactics used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during social media criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in recent years in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s relentless assertions of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

On the administration’s aims, the expert said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently