Accusing party of antisemitism, Pa. Supreme Court Justice David Wecht leaves Democratic Party that elected him

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Justice David Wecht of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania announced that he is leaving the Democratic Party, citing what he described as anti-Jewish actions and rhetoric within the party.

In a message distributed by the state court system, he said that antisemitic “hatred has grown on the left” and that it has “moved from the fringe to the mainstream.”

“Nazi tattoos, jihadist chants, intimidation and attacks at synagogues, and other hateful anti-Jewish invective and actions are minimized, ignored, and even coddled,” he wrote. “Acquiescence to Jew-hatred is now disturbingly common among activists, leaders and even many elected officials in the Democratic Party.”

Wecht said he could “no longer abide by this.”

“So, I won’t,” he wrote. “I am no longer registered within any political party.”

Wecht did not provide specific examples or name party leaders or elected officials. Graham Platner, who is likely to win the Democratic primary in Maine’s U.S. Senate race, was discovered last year to have a Nazi-related tattoo, though he has since disavowed its meaning and had it covered up.

In 1998, Wecht married his wife at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Congregation synagogue, where he also served on the board of trustees. That became the site of the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history when a gunman killed 11 people and injured several others.

The announcement marks a notable political shift for Wecht, who was elected to the state’s highest court as a Democrat and has long been associated with Democratic politics in Pennsylvania. Wecht served as vice-chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party before winning seats on the Pennsylvania Superior Court, the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas and his current seat on the Supreme Court in 2016.

Unlike most states, Pennsylvania’s judges and appellate court justices run for their offices in partisan elections. Wecht ran for “retention,” or reelection, as a Democrat just last year, winning another 10-year term.

However, Wecht has also spoken out against what he has seen as an increase in antisemitism for years. Soon after the Tree of Life attack, he criticized Rep. Ilan Omar, D-Minn., for comments he said were antisemitic and called for her to be “disciplined.”

Last week, Wecht joined U.S. District Judge Roy Altman of the Southern District of Florida in Pittsburgh to discuss Altman’s recently published book “Israel on Trial: Examining the History, the Evidence, and the Law.” Altman has accused college activists protesting Israel’s reaction to Hamas’ October 2023 attack of being “brainwashed.”

“I was shocked that these people were blaming the victims, that suddenly the Jews were the oppressors, that the Jewish women who were raped and their daughters who were raped were the aggressors,” Altman said.

More than 1,200 Israelis, most of them civilians, were killed in the attack. Israel has since engaged in a war to annihilate Hamas, which is now going on two and a half years and is estimated to have killed tens of thousands of Gazans.

In his statement, Wecht said that he would maintain “impartial justice” on the court, including if it requires him to “vindicate the legal rights that haters and extremists of all stripes enjoy in our country and in our Commonwealth.”

“I am confined to a judicial role, and in that role, I maintain independence at all times and in all respects,” he wrote. “My voting registration now reflects my independence as well.”

WHYY News has reached out to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party but has not received a response by publication.