Charles W. Johnson (born 1951) is an American

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

and current Associate Chief Justice of the

Washington State Supreme Court The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington. The court is composed of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Members of the court are elected to six-year terms. Justices must retire ...

of the State of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He was born in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

, and resides in

Gig Harbor, Washington Gig Harbor is the name of both a bay on Puget Sound and a city on its shore in Pierce County, Washington,. The population was 12,029 at the 2020 census. Gig Harbor is one of several cities and towns that claim to be "the gateway to the Olympic ...

Tenure on the court

Justice Johnson has served on the

Washington Supreme Court The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the ...

longer than any other current Justice. He was first elected to the Washington Supreme Court in 1990, gaining re-election in 1996, 2002, and 2008. He was re-elected again in 2014 and 2020 and his currently serving his sixth term, which will run until 2027. In October 2018, Johnson wrote a concurrence when the majority abolished the state's death penalty because they found its racially biased imposition violated the

Constitution of Washington The Constitution of the State of Washington is the document that describes the structure and function of the government of the U.S. State of Washington. The constitution was adopted as part of Washington Territory's path to statehood in 1889. An e ...

Education

Justice Johnson graduated from the University of Puget Sound School of Law (now

Seattle University Seattle University (SeattleU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington. Seattle University is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate prog ...

School of Law) in 1976, and was the first graduate of that institution to be elected to the Washington Supreme Court. He took his undergraduate degree from the University of Washington in 1974. He is a graduate of Curtis High School in

University Place, Washington University Place is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States. Its population was 34,866 at the 2020 census. Based on per capita income, University Place ranks 81st of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked. History Universi ...

References

External links

''Biography - Washington Courts''
1951 births Living people People from Gig Harbor, Washington Politicians from Tacoma, Washington University of Puget Sound alumni Seattle University School of Law alumni University of Washington alumni Justices of the Washington Supreme Court Washington (state) state court judges 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges {{US-state-judge-stub