Anti-judiciary wave ripples across Atlantic as France's far right aims to salvage presidential hopes

MARSEILLE, France (CN) — Financial judges generally don’t become household names in France.

But these days, everyone has been talking about Bénedicte de Perthuis, the judge who slapped extreme-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen with a five-year ineligibility sentence, effectively taking her out of the 2027 presidential race.

De Perthuis has been at the center of the public conversation. She received a slew of death threats — a 76-year-old man was arrested Tuesday for linking her to a picture of a guillotine — and is under police protection. Other suspects are being investigated for cyberbullying and public insults.

Le Pen was found guilty of embezzling almost 3 million euros (about $3.3 million) in European Union funds from 2004 to 2016, alongside eight others. Lawmakers from Le Pen’s party, known as the RN, received monthly paychecks of 21,000 euros ($23,900) that were supposed to go to parliamentary assistants in Brussels.

Supporters and critics are endlessly debating whether a judge should be able to render a politician ineligible for office. Le Pen says the ruling was undemocratic, taking away the voice of millions of voters. She was topping polls before the judgment. Other far-right leaders across Europe posted “Je suis Marine!,” meaning I am Marine, on X following the verdict.

The party has likened the ruling to a political witch-hunt, which critics in turn liken to U.S. President Donald Trump’s playbook. U.S. officials have echoed cries that Europe is not heeding the voices of voters who lean to the right.

There is a longstanding “firewall” against working with the far-right Alternative for Germany party, still surging in polls. In Romania, officials cancelled last year’s presidential election after far-right candidate Calin Georgescu won the first round; he was barred from the election rerun in May after charges of Russian campaign interference. In 2023 in the Netherlands, despite Geert Wilders’ far-right party taking the largest chunk of votes, he could not form a coalition government.

But Trump’s administration also has a particular habit of calling out judges and complaining about “lawfare.”

“I think that there’s a wave coming from across the Atlantic, the threat of judges,” Pierre Allorant, historian and political scientist at the University of Orléans, told Courthouse News. “It’s something rare in France, this challenge to the rule of law of a justice.”

But it’s unclear that this strategy will rally more support behind Le Pen.

The RN called for a massive protest to demonstrate against the ruling on April 6, but the turnout was much smaller than expected. There were somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 people supporting Le Pen in Paris, while a left-wing counter-demonstration drew 5,000 participants.

“Initially, observers thought that this would give Marine Le Pen an additional echo chamber to play the victimization game,” Ludovic Renard, a political scientist and professor at Sciences Po Bordeaux, told Courthouse News. “But then, we see that many political analysts believe that ultimately, this sends her back to a status of demonization that she has tried to escape with her party.”

In recent years, Le Pen has been running a de-facto normalization campaign to detach the RN from her father, the lateJean-Marie Le Pen. The elder Le Pen was almost universally taboo in France for his extreme antisemitic and xenophobic rhetoric.

Marine Le Pen has largely succeeded; the extreme-right party is at its height of power in France.

But in many ways, she’s cornered. In recent years, she has been outspoken about strengthening the justice system and holding political leaders accountable for crimes. So now, she can’t be overly critical of de Perthuis for risk of looking hypocritical.

“Obviously, when we create these laws, it’s to catch deviants, but it’s certainly the price to pay,” Renard said. “And today for Marine Le Pen, the French themselves would not accept that some escape the laws that they must respect.”

Le Pen’s appeal has been fast tracked. Judges will examine her case by the spring of 2026 — leaving her enough time to launch a presidential campaign, if she prevails.

The normal timeline for the appeals process is two to three years; some argue that Le Pen is already benefiting from unfair treatment by having it moved up ahead of the election.

Le Pen shouldn’t be overly critical of the justice system now, because come March 2026, the judges won’t do her any favors, Michel Wieviorka, a sociologist and director at Paris’ School of High Studies in Social Sciences, told Courthouse News.

“So it is in her interest to show that she respects justice and the law,” he said. “She will not be excessive; she will be much more cautious.”

It’s perhaps the first time that the question of justice and politics has become so linked, in Allorant’s view, partly because of American influence. But he says the strategy is unlikely to be successful in France, where the state is expected to play a strong role.

“Now the Trump government, the federal administration is questioning the Department of Education, the Department of Health, etc.” Allorant said. “In France, this is impossible because even far-right voters are demanding protection — they’re demanding more public services in the face of Europe’s economic threats.”

But there is a new “music” from the far right, according to Allorant, which is to challenge the legitimacy of judges and denounce governments. And reaction to Le Pen’s case, including the eventual appeal, could set a very different kind of precedent for the country.

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