A sitting Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice announced Monday that he is leaving the Democrat Party, saying he can no longer tolerate what he described as growing antisemitism within the political left.
Justice David Wecht, elected to Pennsylvania’s highest court as a Democrat in 2015, said he is now registering as an independent voter after watching what he called a disturbing shift inside his longtime party.
In a statement shared by Spotlight PA reporter Stephen Caruso, Wecht said antisemitism — once largely confined to the political fringes — has increasingly become normalized within parts of the Democrat coalition.
“Nazi tattoos, jihadist chants, intimidation and attacks at synagogues, and other hateful anti-Jewish invective and actions are minimized, ignored, and even coddled,” the statement read in part. “Acquiescence to Jew-hatred is now disturbingly common among activists, leaders and even many elected officials in the Democratic Party.”
“I can no longer abide this. So, I won’t. I am no longer registered within any political party,” Wecht added.
The high-profile jurist’s departure marks a striking break from a party he served for decades. Before joining the state Supreme Court, Wecht served as vice chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party from 1998 to 2001.
According to Politico, Wecht said the Democrat Party had been “slouching toward antisemitism” for the last quarter century, culminating in what he now sees as a crisis within the party’s ranks.
Wecht pointed to the Oct. 27, 2018, massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Congregation — the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history — while reflecting on the rise of anti-Jewish hatred across the political spectrum.
He noted that he had been married at the synagogue two decades earlier and had served on its Board of Trustees.
“That terror came from the right. Jew-hatred has always festered on the fringe of that sector,” Wecht said.
“In the years that have followed, that same hatred has grown on the left. Increasingly, it has moved from the fringe to the mainstream.”
Wecht also appeared to reference controversy surrounding presumed Democratic Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner, after video surfaced showing Platner dancing shirtless at his brother’s wedding with what critics said resembled a Nazi SS Totenkopf symbol tattooed on his chest.
Platner later denied any extremist affiliation, telling Pod Save America that he was a “lifelong opponent” of Nazism and antisemitism. He claimed the tattoo was the result of a drunken decision while serving as a Marine in Croatia and said skull-and-crossbones imagery is common in military culture.
Wecht framed his party departure as a matter of principle rather than politics, insisting he remains impartial in his role on the bench. Referencing Shakespeare, he suggested his decision was rooted in remaining true to himself.
His warning about rising antisemitism on the left echoes concerns raised by several prominent Democrats in recent months, including Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer.
Gottheimer, in a New York Times op-ed published Sunday, accused elements of the political left of tolerating antisemitic rhetoric and specifically criticized progressive commentator Hasan Piker.
Fetterman publicly backed Wecht’s decision Tuesday.
“The Democratic Party must confront its own rising antisemitism problem,” Fetterman said, adding that he “fully understand[s]” why Wecht chose to leave the party.
In closing, Wecht warned that antisemitism has historically signaled civilizational decline, arguing that societies that tolerate hatred toward Jews ultimately undermine their own foundations.
American society “enjoy[ed] robust rights and liberties” that elevated American civilization, he wrote, but nearly all once-great civilizations “deteriorated and declined when Jew-hatred grew and metastasized.”
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