Researching Phil Johnson

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 won voter approval in 2006 to serve the remainder of Schneider's term, and was then reelected in 2008 to a full six-year term.

Johnson's term on Place 8 would have run through December 31, 2020. Two days after the November 6, 2018 elections, in which numerous Republican appellate justices and trial court judges were defeated, Johnson announced his resignation effective December 31, 2018. This created a vacancy to be filled by Governor Greg Abbott, who had won reelection on November 6, 2018, along with three of Johnson's fellow members of the Supreme Court, notwithstanding the heavy Republican losses in metropolitan appellate districts, which flipped majority control of the appellate courts in Austin, Dallas, and Houston to Democrats. The Texas Supreme Court however remains solidly Republican. Governor Abbott had a rich array of highly qualified conservative appellate jurists to choose from. He appointed J. Brett Busby, who had lost his 2018 re-election bid as an incumbent on the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston, to succeed Phil Johnson.

Johnson 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. Johnson polled 731,275 votes (64 percent) to McCally's 410,870 votes (36 percent).

Johnson previously served as Chief Justice of the Texas Seventh District Court of Appeals, which sits in Amarillo. Johnson was elected to the Seventh COA in 1998 and became its chief 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. Prior to this legal career, he was served as a pilot in the United States Air Force from 1965 to 1972 and is 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 Lubbock.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.