Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David N. Wecht renounced his Democratic registration on Monday and said he will move forward as an independent, citing what he called a worsening climate of antisemitism inside the party.
Wecht said he can no longer abide what he described as Jew-hatred in the Democratic Party. “Nazi tattoos, jihadist chants, intimidation and attacks at synagogues, and other hateful anti-Jewish invective and actions are minimized, ignored and even coddled. Acquiescence to Jew-hatred is now disturbingly common among activists, leaders and even many elected officials in the Democratic Party,” he said. “I can no longer abide this. So, I won’t. I am no longer registered within any political party.”
The justice tied that view to his own life in Pittsburgh. He said he grew up in Squirrel Hill and was married at the Tree of Life synagogue in 1998, years before the synagogue became the site of the worst antisemitic attack in U.S. history in 2018. Wecht said that assault came from the right, but argued that the same hatred has since spread on the left. “In the years that have followed, that same hatred has grown on the left. Increasingly, it has moved from the fringe to the mainstream. It is the duty of all good people to fight this virus, and to do so before it is too late,” he said.
He also pointed to his own political past, saying he served for three years as vice chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party before joining the bench. His registration change follows a 10-year retention election in November, when he and two other Democratic justices won easy yes-no votes to keep their seats.
The shift may not change the court’s day-to-day work. Before Wecht changed his registration, Democrats held a 5-2 majority on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and the court is scheduled to be in session next week in Harrisburg. Wecht said his voting registration now reflects the independence he says he already maintains as a jurist. “We all should awaken now to what is happening,” he said. “I am confined to a judicial role, and in that role, I maintain independence at all times and in all respects. My voting registration now reflects my independence as well.” He added that, as a jurist, he will continue to “vindicate the legal rights that haters and extremists of all stripes enjoy in our country and in our commonwealth.”
For Wecht, the break is personal and public at once: a Pennsylvania justice raised in Squirrel Hill, shaped by the Tree of Life synagogue, now saying he can no longer stay in the party he once helped lead. “This above all: to thine own self be true,” he said.
