James Michael Johnson born January 30, is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 56th speaker of the United States House of Representatives since A member of the Republican Party , he is in his fifth House term, having represented Louisiana's 4th congressional district since Johnson is a graduate of the Paul M.
Before entering politics, he worked as an attorney in private practice and for the Alliance Defending Freedom ADF , a conservative Christian legal advocacy group. Johnson's political career began when he was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in ; he served in that body until He was first elected to represent Louisiana's 4th congressional district in During his time in Congress, he contested the results of the presidential election on the House floor and in court.
A social conservative , Johnson supported bills to ban abortion nationwide before saying that in the wake of the Dobbs decision, abortion policy was the purview of the states. Johnson chaired the Republican Study Committee , the largest caucus of conservatives in Congress, from to He was vice chair of the House Republican Conference from to He was reelected to a full term as speaker in In , while serving with the Shreveport Fire Department, Pat Johnson was severely injured and disabled in a fire at a cold storage facility.
A fellow firefighter, Captain Percy R. Johnson, was killed in that fire. Pat Johnson never returned to work as a firefighter, choosing instead to become a HazMat consultant. He also co-founded the Percy R. Johnson Burn Foundation, which aided burn victims and their families.
The younger Johnson wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, but his parents encouraged him to take another course. Hebert Law Center with a Juris Doctor degree. Johnson was a constitutional lawyer before entering politics. The law school never opened, and Johnson resigned in August In , Johnson founded Freedom Guard, a nonprofit law firm that engaged in religious liberty litigation. The court ruled in favor of Answers in Genesis, saying the state's exclusion of the ark from the tourism tax incentive based on its "religious purpose and message" violated the First Amendment.
