Retired Washington State Supreme Court Justice James M. Johnson on Thursday night was awarded the Friend of Liberty Award for his lifetime of service in the cause of freedom at a special banquet in his honor sponsored by the Freedom Foundation.
The event — hosted by radio personality John Carlson at the Westin Hotel in Bellevue — was attended by more than 200 guests including numerous members of the state Legislature. Longtime U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton and former Washington State Attorney General Ken Eikenberry were the keynote speakers.
Johnson, who stepped down in 2014 after 10 years on the court, currently holds the title of senior legal fellow at the Freedom Foundation.
“Jim Johnson has been my friend for many years, and I’ve been an unabashed admirer of his work,” Freedom Foundation CEO Tom McCabe told the attendees. “I speak for everyone on the Freedom Foundation staff as well as its board and its thousands of members when I say, ‘Jim, welcome aboard. We couldn’t be more pleased or proud that you’ve chosen to continue your quest for freedom and individual liberty with this organization, and we hope the association is a long and productive one.'”
“We’re here tonight to honor both what (Johnson) has done in his decades of public service,” added Freedom Foundation Board Chairman Steve Neighbors, “but also what we know he will do in the time he spends with this organization.
“His many career accomplishments speak for themselves,” he said, “but they all come from the same place — his unswerving belief in the constitutional principles upon which this state and nation were founded.”
Born in Seattle, he attended local area public schools. Johnson graduated from Harvard University with a bachelors in economics and obtained his law degree from the University of Washington.
He spent two years in the U.S. Army, serving in the Ninth Infantry Division while stationed at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma.
Johnson then spent 20 years serving as a Washington State Assistant Attorney General, heading first the Fish and Wildlife Division, and later worked in the state Attorney General’s Special Litigation Division with responsibility for legal services to 25 state agencies and for major litigation involving the state.
As a senior assistant attorney general he argued some of the state’s most important cases, including the U.S. Supreme Court case that won Washington its 9th Congressional District. As the state’s Counsel for the Environment, he negotiated agreements that preserved thousands of acres for wildlife habitat and recreation.
Upon leaving the AG’s Office in 1993, Johnson enjoyed a successful private practice in Olympia specializing in major litigation involving constitutional law, notably many of the important ballot initiative cases.
The initiative he wrote for the Grange allows Washingtonians to vote for any candidate without being restricted to one political party (most other states restrict voters to one party). The initiative was upheld by the United States Supreme Court. Altogether, he argued nearly 100 appellate cases including cases before the United States Supreme Court.
He was elected to the Washington State Supreme Court in 2004 re-elected without opposition in 2010. During his tenure, he was recognized as the court’s leading conservative voice.
“I’m most proud of continuing my commitment to liberty,” Johnson said. “You always have to protect your own liberty and that of your descendants.”
View photos of the event here.
