Prior to ascending to the bench, Judge Johnson was formerly a Visiting Professor of Law, and Director, National Security Law LL.M Program at Georgetown Law and a Visiting Fellow at Georgetown’s Center on National Security and the Law. She is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. Immediately prior to her appointment at Georgetown, she served in the Obama Administration as the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs, at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Before that, Judge Johnson was the Senior Advisor to the Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Judge Johnson retired from the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where she specialized in international and national security law. In 2002, she became the first African American female to be selected to the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army’s JAG Corps’ 227-year history. In her final assignment, she served as the Senior Military Assistant to the Department of Defense General Counsel.

Judge Johnson is a Member of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security. She is a contributing author to the ABA’s recently published, “The U.S. Intelligence Community Law Sourcebook, 2021-2022 Edition.”

Judge Johnson obtained her J.D. from Temple University, and two LL.Ms; one from the Judge Advocate Generals’ School, and the other from the University of Virginia School of Law. She also has a M.S. in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College. In addition to her numerous military awards, Judge Johnson has been recognized by the civilian bar. She is a 1995 joint recipient of the American Bar Association’s Hodson Award for Outstanding Public Service. In 2002, she was inducted into the National Bar Association’s Military Law Section Hall of Fame. In 2005, she was selected as the American Bar Association’s Outstanding Military Service Career Judge Advocate. In recognition of her outstanding accomplishments, in 2022, she was selected for Induction into the U.S. Army Women’s Hall of Fame.

Scholarship

Books

The U.S. Intelligence Community Law Sourcebook 2021-2022 Edition: A Compendium of National Security Related Laws and Policy Documents (Adam Ross Pearlman, Musetta Tia Johnson, Kay K Wakatake, Harvey Rishikof & Andrew M Borene eds., Chicago: American Bar Association 2021).

Contributions to Law Reviews and Other Scholarly Journals

M. Tia Johnson & Brenner Fissell, Panel 3: A Fireside Chat with the Honorable Judge M. Tia Johnson, 68 Vill. L. Rev. 871-880 (2024). [WWW] [W] [L]
M. Tia Johnson, Answering the Clarion Call to Action: Congress’s Role in Protecting Election Security, 66 Wayne L. Rev. 63-149 (2020).
[WWW] [HEIN] [W] [L]