Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht Drops Democratic Registration, Cites Party’s Tolerance of Antisemitism

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht announced on May 11, 2026, that he has dropped his Democratic Party registration and is now unaffiliated. He cited concerns over growing tolerance of antisemitism within the Democratic Party as his reason. Wecht delivered a detailed statement outlining his decision.

"In 1998, my wife and I were married at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Congregation, on whose Board of Trustees I served," he said. " That 2018 attack at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Congregation came from the right, Wecht noted. He stated that Jew-hatred had long festered on the fringe of that sector.

Yet conditions changed in subsequent years. "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 said. " Wecht described specific manifestations he could no longer accept.

"Nazi tattoos, jihadist chants, intimidation and attacks at synagogues, and other hateful anti-Jewish invective and actions are minimized, ignored, and even coddled," he stated. " He concluded with a direct declaration. "I can no longer abide this.

So, I won’t. " From 1998 to 2001, years that preceded his judicial career, Wecht served as Vice-Chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. The party has changed markedly in the quarter century since then, he said.

Wecht was part of a trio of Democratic justices, alongside Christine Donohue and Kevin Dougherty, who faced a contentious 2023 retention election. Republicans attempted to unseat the three justices that year. The 2023 Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention race was viewed as a test of partisan strength after the narrow 2020 election.

All three justices won reelection to serve another 10 years on the bench. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued rulings in post-election challenges that ended Donald Trump's attempts to reverse the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania. Those decisions figured prominently in Republican efforts during the 2023 campaign.

In the 2024 presidential election, Kamala Harris lost Pennsylvania to Donald Trump by more than 120,000 votes. The retention election outcome the previous year did not prove predictive of that result. Hot Air reported on Wecht's announcement and the full text of his statement.

The justice's departure comes 25 years after he held a senior position in the state Democratic Party organization. Wecht warned that unchecked growth of such attitudes carries historic consequences. In Pennsylvania and in the United States of America, robust rights and liberties have helped create the greatest civilization the world has seen, he said.

Past great civilizations deteriorated when Jew-hatred grew and metastasized.