James M. Johnson

James M. Johnson is an Associate Justice of the Washington Supreme Court. He was first elected to the court in 2004. Johnson graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in economics and obtained his J.D. from the University of Washington.

Johnson spent two years in the United States Army as chief of Administrative Services for the Ninth Infantry Division, including serving as that Division's Top Secret control officer and Dive Team commander before joining the Washington State Attorney General's Office.

Johnson spent the next 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 was involved in many elections-related and constitutional cases, many of which went to the Washington or United States Supreme Court. During that time he was national affairs liaison to the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) and the Conference of Western Attorneys General (CWAG), as well as a contributing editor for that Association's American Indian Law Deskbook.

Upon leaving the Attorney General's Office in 1993, Johnson entered into a successful private practice in Olympia, Washington, where he practiced until his election to the Supreme Court. His private practice specialized in major litigation involving constitutional law, notably many of the important initiative cases. Throughout his legal career, Johnson has argued nearly 100 appellate cases in three different federal appellate courts, the Washington Supreme Court and Washington Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.

Personal life

Johnson is a life-long Washingtonian, born in Seattle, and he attended Ingraham High School. Johnson and his wife Kathleen live in Olympia. They have two daughters: Heather Swanson is in the teaching profession and Stephanie is part of the team producing news for a national network. One skill from the Army he still enjoys is scuba diving, and he and his family have traveled much of the world.