Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht announced Monday he is leaving the Democratic Party, saying the party now tolerates antisemitism that would have been unthinkable when he first joined it, Reuters reports.
Wecht, 63, has served on the state’s highest court since 2016 and was re-elected to a full 10-year term as recently as last November. He once served as vice chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party from 1998 to 2001. On Monday, he said enough.
“Nazi tattoos, jihadist chants, intimidation and attacks at synagogues, and other hateful anti-Jewish invective and actions are minimized, ignored and even coddled,” Wecht wrote in a statement. “Acquiescence to Jew-hatred is now disturbingly common among activists, leaders and even many elected officials in the Democratic Party.”
He said he is now registered as an independent. His statement was made in a personal capacity and does not affect his judicial duties.
Wecht’s departure carries weight beyond politics. He is Jewish and was married in 1998 at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Congregation, the same synagogue where a gunman killed 11 worshippers in October 2018 in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
“That terror came from the right,” Wecht said. “Jew-hatred has always festered on the fringe of that sector. In the years that have followed, that same hatred has grown on the left.”
Wecht ran as a Democrat when first elected to the court in 2015. Four of the six other justices on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court remain registered Democrats. Two are Republicans. His exit does not change the court’s composition or its majority.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) responded on X, saying he understood the decision without endorsing it.
“I know David and his legendary father, Cyril. As I’ve affirmed, I’m not changing my party, but I fully understand David’s personal choice,” Fetterman wrote. “The Democratic Party must confront its own rising antisemitism problem.”
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party did not respond to a request for comment.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has deepened divisions inside the Democratic Party, intensifying a generational rift over U.S. support for Israel and fueling a wave of protests at college campuses and party events across the country.
Wecht cited that atmosphere directly and said he hoped Americans of all backgrounds would resist what he called “the scourge of Jew-hatred before it undermines what our ancestors have built here.”
“I can no longer abide this,” he wrote. “So, I won’t.”
