Phil Johnson (judge)

Philip Wayne Johnson, known as Phil Johnson (born October 24, 1944), is a Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. He has held the Place 8 seat since 2005.

On March 15, 2005, Johnson was appointed to his state's Supreme Court by Governor Rick Perry to fill a vacancy created by the appointment of Michael H. Schneider to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas by U.S. President George W. Bush. Johnson was elected in 2006 to serve the remainder of Schneider's term and reelected in 2008 to a full six-year term.

Johnson's current term ends on December 31, 2014. He won renomination in the Republican primary election held on March 4, 2014, by defeating an intraparty challenger, Sharon Sue McCally (born 1960) of Houston, the Place 2 judge of the Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals and the wife of Lance Henry Lubel. Johnson polled 731,275 votes (64 percent) to McCally's 410,870 votes (36 percent).

Johnson was previously Chief Justice of the Texas Seventh District Court of Appeals, which sits in Amarillo. Johnson was elected to the Seventh Court of Appeals in 1998 and became its chief justice in 2002.

Johnson received his law degree from the Texas Tech University School of Law in Lubbock. He is a "distinguished alumnus" of Texas Tech Law School and a member of the Order of the Coif. He practiced law from 1975 until 1998 with the Lubbock firm of Crenshaw, Dupree & Milam, L.L.P. His specialization was civil trial and personal injury law. Previously, he was a pilot in the United States Air Force from 1965 to 1972 and a veteran of the Vietnam War. He received the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross twice, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and multiple Air Medals. He and his wife, Carla, reside in Amarillo; they have five children.

A lifelong Republican, Johnson carries the support of Texas Right to Life, Governor Perry, twelve former state Supreme Court justices, including former Chief Justices Tom Phillips and Wallace B. Jefferson, and both U.S. senators from Texas, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.