Justice Johnson was elected to the Supreme Court in 2004. He is a life-long Washingtonian, born in Seattle where he attended Ingraham High School. Justice Johnson graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in economics and obtained his J.D. from the University of Washington. He spent two years in the United States Army, Ninth Infantry Division, including serving as that Division's Top Secret control officer and Dive Team commander.
Justice Johnson next spent 20 years serving as a Washington State Assistant Attorney General, heading first the Fish and Wildlife Division and later the Special Litigation Division with responsibility for legal services to 25 state agencies and for major litigation involving the state. He served as Counsel for the Environment and personally tried major cases involving power dams and nuclear facilities to protect fish and wildlife. Also of high importance were elections-related constitutional cases, many of which went to the Washington and United States Supreme Courts.
After leaving the Attorney General's Office in 1993, Justice Johnson enjoyed a successful private practice in Olympia, until his election to the state Supreme Court. His private practice specialized in major litigation involving constitutional law and civil rights, including many of the important Initiative cases. Throughout his legal career, Justice Johnson has argued nearly 100 appellate cases in three different federal Courts of Appeal, the Washington Supreme Court, Washington Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. After the political parties sued to eliminate the state's popular "Blanket Primary," Justice Johnson wrote the initiative for the Grange that today allows Washingtonians to vote for any candidate without being restricted to one political party. The initiative was upheld by the United States Supreme Court.
Justice Johnson and his wife Kathleen live in Olympia. They have two daughters, Heather Swanson who is a school principal in Seattle and Stephanie who is part of the team producing news for a national network. One skill from his Army days he still enjoys is scuba diving. His other hobbies include sailboat racing, cycling, hunting, and the opera.
