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The legislative branch is made up of the House and Senate, known collectively as the Congress. Among other powers, the legislative branch makes all laws, declares war, regulates interstate and foreign commerce and controls taxing and spending policies.

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Overview | Seating Plans | Desk Occupants | The Desks | Traditions | Timeline

Seating Plans

Since 2003 (108th Congress, 1st Session), the Senate has provided interactive seating plans to identify where each of the 100 members sit in the Chamber and which historic desk they use. This seating plan is updated at the start of each Congress, and as needed if members change desks or seating locations or if a new senator is sworn in.

Explore the current seating plan below, use the dropdown for access to past interactive seating plans, or browse PDFs of seating configurations from before 2003.

ADS - Assistant Democratic Secretary
ARS - Assistant Republican Secretary
AS - Assistant Secretary of the Senate
DS - Democratic Secretary
JC - Journal Clerk

VP - Vice President of the U.S. (or president pro tempore or majority member)

Note: The numbers on the map are desk identification numbers and do not indicate occupant seniority or party.

Did You Know?

Seating Arrangement

U.S. Senate Collection

Today, Democrats traditionally sit on the presiding officer's right, and Republicans on the left. But the division has not always been as clearly defined as it is now. In the early years of the Senate an equal number of desks were placed on each side of the room, separated by a central passageway, without regard to party size. When one party elected more than half the senators, some majority party members had to find space on the minority party side of the aisle. When the Senate moved to its current Chamber in 1859, the practice of dividing the desks equally continued for several years even though the new Chamber was large enough to permit a flexible seating arrangement. In 1877 the practice began of moving desks back and forth across the center aisle to permit all majority party members to sit together on the appropriate side, except in a few cases where an unusually large majority existed.

Senators independent of either party have traditionally chosen for themselves which side of the aisle to sit on. Once, during the 1950s, when Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon had left the Republican Party but not yet joined the Democratic Party, he placed his chair temporarily in the middle of the center aisle in order to demonstrate his independence.

Choosing Seats

U.S. Senate Collection

U.S. Senate Collection

The original 48 desks made by Thomas Constantine in 1819 were constructed in such a way as to form three concentric semicircles on the Senate floor. Each desk was custom made for a particular location within the Chamber. Today the desks are no longer arranged in their original order, but are moved within the Chamber to suit the needs of the Senate.

At the start of each Congress, the desks are reapportioned between the two aisles of the Chamber based on the number of Democrats and Republicans. After that, senators have the opportunity to relocate. Historically, the Senate Chamber desks were assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. When a seat became open, the first senator to speak for it won the right to it. Today, at the beginning of each Congress, senators are given the option to change their seats based on seniority. There are typically two reasons a senator might want to change desks: to gain a better location within the Chamber, or to occupy a desk previously used by a particular senator.

The only desks that are not assigned in the traditional manner are the Daniel Webster Desk, which is always occupied by the senior senator from New Hampshire; the Jefferson Davis Desk, which is given to the senior senator from Mississippi; and the Henry Clay Desk, which is given to the senior senator from Kentucky. The assignment of these desks is governed by a series of Senate resolutions.

Party Seating

U.S. Senate Historical Office

Occasionally one party maintains such an overwhelming majority that it becomes necessary for majority party members to sit on the minority party side in the Senate Chamber. During the 60th Congress (1907-1909), 10 Republicans sat on the Democratic side, while during the 75th Congress (1937-1939), 13 Democrats sat on the Republican side. Such seating became known as the "Cherokee Strip," a reference to the region in Oklahoma with land that at the time belonged neither to the Indian Territory nor the United States. By the 1930s, it had become the practice for senior senators to take front-row, center-aisle seats; junior majority party members who filled the "Cherokee Strip" were assigned either rear-row or end seats on the minority party side.

The last time a "Cherokee Strip" existed in the Senate Chamber was during the 76th Congress (1939-1941). Six of the 69 Democratic senators sat with the 23 Republican and 4 Independent senators. During the 89th Congress (1965-1967), four senators were placed in an unusual fifth row behind the Democratic senators.

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Overview | Seating Plans | Desk Occupants | The Desks | Traditions | Timeline Since 2003 (108th Congress, 1st Session), the Senate has provided interactive seating plans to identify where each of the 100 members sit in the Chamber and which historic desk they use.

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Congress enacts laws that influence the daily lives of all Americans and is intended to serve as the voice of the people. Its responsibilities include funding government functions and programs, holding hearings to inform the legislative process, and oversight of the executive branch.

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As per the Constitution, the U.S. House of Representatives makes and passes federal laws. The House is one of Congress's two chambers (the other is the U.S. Senate), and part of the federal government's legislative branch.

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James Michael Johnson (born January 30, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 56th speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he is in his fifth House term, having represented Louisiana's 4th congressional district since 2017.

Johnson is a graduate of the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University. 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 sat on the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention between 2004 and 2012.

Johnson's political career began when he was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 2015; he served in that body until 2017. He was first elected to represent Louisiana's 4th congressional district in 2016. During his time in Congress, he contested the results of the 2020 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 decision, abortion policy was the purview of the states. Johnson chaired the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus of conservatives in Congress, from 2019 to 2021. He was vice chair of the House Republican Conference from 2021 to 2023.

On October 25, 2023, after Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the position, Johnson was elected to replace him. As speaker, Johnson helped pass a bill meant to provide Ukraine with $60 billion of U.S. military aid. He was narrowly reelected to a full term as speaker in 2025.

Early life and education

Johnson was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, the oldest of four children to Jeanne Johnson and James Patrick "Pat" Johnson (who died in 2016). He has said that he is the product of an unplanned pregnancy and that his parents were teenagers when he was born. They divorced after 23 years of marriage.

Johnson is a graduate of Captain Shreve High School in Shreveport. In 1995, he earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Louisiana State University, becoming a first-generation college graduate. In 1998, Johnson graduated from Louisiana State's Paul M. Hebert Law Center with a Juris Doctor degree.

Legal career

Johnson was a constitutional lawyer before entering politics. He was senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, now known as the Alliance Defending Freedom, a socially conservative legal advocacy group that subscribes to the legal theory of constitutionalism. In 2004, he defended Louisiana Amendment 1, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman within the Louisiana Constitution, against legal challenges.

In August 2010, Johnson was named the "founding dean" of the newly established Pressler School of Law at Louisiana College. The law school never opened, and Johnson resigned in August 2012. Joe Aguillard, accused by a university vice president of misappropriating money and lying to the board, blamed Johnson's resignation for the law school's failure. The college soon terminated Aguillard, as it was determined he "engaged in numerous improprieties and falsities in his representations not only to school donors, but to the Board of Trustees". The parent college has since been embroiled in administrative and legal problems.

In 2015, Johnson founded Freedom Guard, a nonprofit law firm that engaged in religious liberty litigation. He was its chief counsel. During his time at Freedom Guard, he "defended the sports chaplaincy program at Louisiana State University from attacks that it was unconstitutional". Also, when Kentucky officials withdrew millions of dollars of tax breaks from the Ark Encounter theme park in Williamstown, Kentucky, Johnson represented Ark Encounter and its owner, Answers in Genesis, in a 2015 federal lawsuit. 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. After the ruling, Johnson said: "The court has affirmed a longstanding principle that the Constitution does not permit a state to show hostility towards religion. The First Amendment does not allow Christian organizations to be treated like second-class citizens merely because of what they believe."

Johnson is a professor at Liberty University and teaches classes at its Helms School of Government. From roughly 2015 to 2022, he was an occasional guest host of Tony Perkins's radio talk show Washington Watch.

Louisiana House of Representatives

In April 2015, Johnson proposed the Marriage and Conscience Act. It would have prevented the state from engaging in adverse treatment of any person or entity based upon their beliefs about marriage. Critics denounced the bill as an attempt to protect people who discriminate against same-sex married couples. Governor Bobby Jindal pledged to sign Johnson's bill into law if it passed the legislature, commenting in a New York Times editorial that "musicians, caterers, photographers and others should be immune from government coercion on deeply held religious convictions". IBM and other employers in the region expressed opposition to the bill, including concerns about hiring difficulties it would likely produce. Other politicians also objected, including Republican Baton Rouge Metro Councilman John Delgado, who called Johnson a "despicable bigot of the highest order" for proposing the bill. Johnson replied that he "wished Delgado had taken the time to review his record and career before making 'such hateful, wildly inaccurate statements'".

On May 19, 2015, the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee voted 10-2 to table the bill, effectively ending its chances to become law. Both Republicans and Democrats voted against the bill; other than Johnson, only Republican Ray Garofalo voted for it. In response, Jindal issued an executive order to enforce its intent.

U.S. House of Representatives

On February 10, 2016, Johnson announced his candidacy for the 4th congressional district seat, which had been held for eight years by John Fleming. Fleming was running for the United States Senate seat vacated by David Vitter. Johnson won the election.

Early tenure

Johnson was sworn into office as a member of Congress on January 3, 2017. He has served as a deputy whip for House Republicans, as a member of the Judiciary Committee, and as a member of the Armed Services Committee. From 2019 to 2021, Johnson chaired the Republican Study Committee. Johnson served as vice chair of the House Republican Conference from 2021 to 2023. He was supported by the House Freedom Caucus PAC and frequently attended House Freedom Caucus meetings without formally joining the Caucus.

Johnson has worked closely with the Christian groups Answers in Genesis, Louisiana Family Forum, Alliance Defending Freedom, and Focus on the Family.

After the 2022 midterm elections, Representative Andy Biggs proposed Johnson as a possible compromise candidate for Speaker of the House instead of Republican Conference leader Kevin McCarthy, after members of the House Freedom Caucus opposed McCarthy's bid for the speakership.

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Speaker of the House

Johnson delivers remarks following his election as Speaker of the House.

Nomination

After Kevin McCarthy was removed from the position of speaker of the House on October 3, 2023, Representative Matt Gaetz floated Johnson's name as a potential replacement. On October 13, Johnson said that he would not run in the upcoming speaker election to succeed McCarthy and endorsed colleague Jim Jordan; on the same day, NBC News reported that Johnson was considering running if Jordan dropped out.

On October 21, after Steve Scalise and Jordan had made unsuccessful bids for speaker, Johnson declared his candidacy to become the new Republican nominee for speaker but was beaten by Representative Tom Emmer on October 24. Emmer defeated Johnson, 117 votes to 97, on the fifth ballot. Shortly thereafter, Emmer withdrew his candidacy for the speakership. Later on the same day, House Republicans voted to make Johnson their fourth nominee for speaker; he beat write-in candidate Kevin McCarthy and Representative Byron Donalds, 128 votes to 43 and 29, on the third ballot. Johnson's bid was endorsed by former U.S. president Donald Trump.

On October 25, the full House voted, 220-209, to elect Johnson as the 56th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives with every Republican member in attendance voting for him. Johnson was also sworn in as speaker on the same day. He is the first speaker in U.S. history from Louisiana. Johnson had served the shortest tenure of any House member elected speaker, at six years and ten months, since John G. Carlisle in 1883. Delivering his first remarks as speaker, he said, "I believe that Scripture, the Bible, is very clear: that God is the one who raises up those in authority. He raised up each of you. All of us."

118th Congress

In the first half of the 118th Congress, when McCarthy was speaker, the House of Representatives had passed into law the lowest number of bills of any previous Congress, partially due to the unrest among members of the Freedom Caucus and McCarthy. McCarthy's removal had not put an end to the divided House, and Johnson sparked some anger over his handling of spending negotiations. An effort to oust him from the speakership in May 2024 failed with two-thirds of the House voting to keep him in office.

On October 26, 2023, Johnson met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia during the latter's state visit to the United States. Later that day, he also met with President Joe Biden for the first time as speaker before attending a bipartisan briefing held at the White House on the administration's proposed funding requests for aid to Ukraine and Israel. On October 30, Johnson suggested rescinding IRS funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to provide Israel $14.3 billion in aid.

In November, Johnson proposed a two-tiered stopgap bill that continued spending at around current levels. The bill was opposed by House conservatives and the Freedom Caucus, but passed the House on November 14 with the support of 209 Democrats and 127 Republicans. It passed the Senate on the next day and was signed by Biden.

During the more than three weeks it took for House Republicans to elect a speaker, they were unable to pass any appropriations legislation. Johnson announced he would support another continuing resolution to extend funding for some departments until January 19 and others until February 2. Conservatives opposed the measures, but were not ready to offer a motion to vacate.

On January 7, 2024, congressional appropriators reached an agreement on the topline spending levels for 2024 that was not substantially different from the deal McCarthy negotiated. Hardliners attempted to push Johnson to abandon the deal, initially claiming that he had done so before Johnson clarified that he hadn't. As negotiations continued over the full-year funding bills, conservatives pushed Johnson to instead endorse a full-year continuing resolution, which under McCarthy's deal would result in automatic spending cuts.

President Joe Biden during his 2024 State of the Union Address with Johnson and Vice President Harris

On March 6, 2024, the House passed a $459 billion " minibus" spending package containing six of the twelve appropriations bills. The bill funded the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Energy, Interior, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development. It also provided appropriations for the EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers, and other military construction. The rightmost faction of the Republican conference harshly opposed the deal, arguing it contained no substantial conservative policy wins.

In April 2024, more than two months after the Senate had passed a funding bill for Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine, Johnson put forward a legislative package providing aid to the three countries in separate bills, each of which passed Congress with bipartisan support and large majorities and was signed into law by President Biden. The legislative package also included a House-passed bill to force the app TikTok to divest from its Chinese Communist Party-controlled parent company, ByteDance, as well as the REPO for Ukrainians Act, a measure that allows the U.S. government to fund the Ukrainian war effort with assets seized from Russian oligarchs.

On May 8, 2024, Greene (who had strongly opposed Johnson's resolve to provide Ukraine with further aid) introduced the motion to vacate Johnson's speakership on the floor, forcing a vote on it within two legislative days. The House voted to table (kill) the motion by a vote of 359 to 43, allowing Johnson to remain speaker. 196 Republicans and 163 Democrats voted to kill the resolution; 11 Republicans and 32 Democrats voted against killing the resolution. The Democrats who supported Johnson claimed they did so because of the vital role he had played in providing funding for the federal government and for Ukraine.

Johnson's selfie with Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump, November 16, 2024

The 118th Congress (in which Johnson and McCarthy each served as speaker) saw 209 bills enacted into law, among the lowest number of bills passed by any Congress in decades. Since 2000, the average number of bills passed per congress had been 372. Since 1989, the average number had been 380. No congress had enacted fewer laws since the first half of the 20th century.

119th Congress

In the 2024 elections, Republicans maintained control of the House, flipped control of the U.S. Senate, and won the presidency, yielding an undivided Republican government. On January 3, 2025, the opening day of the 119th Congress, Johnson was reelected speaker on the first ballot, with every Republican vote except Thomas Massie, who voted for Tom Emmer, and every Democrat voting for House minority leader and Leader of the House Democratic Caucus Hakeem Jeffries.

Assessments of speakership

When Johnson became House speaker, he was the least experienced representative to fill the office in 140 years. wrote that Johnson's "status as a relatively unknown figure outside Capitol Hill meant he had few enemies to derail his campaign." Representative Ken Buck, a Republican from Colorado, echoed this sentiment, saying Johnson had won the speakership "because he has the fewest enemies of anybody in the Republican Party".

In May 2024, wrote that Johnson had aligned himself with former President Trump "while not being treated like a golden retriever" and that he had "fortified his reputation in consequential ways. Substantively, Johnson is an authentic movement conservative" who has been "successful in isolating his critics". According to Politico, he has "proved deft in recent months at handling his members." House Republicans have praised him for keeping his word and avoiding "making promises he can't keep", while he has operated in good faith with Democrats and "stayed respectful of the opposition".

In May 2024, conservative columnist Marc Thiessen wrote in The Washington Post that "Johnson has gone from accidental House speaker to one of the most consequential House speakers in a generation" and that despite presiding over the smallest House majority in U.S. history, Johnson had become "one of the most effective speakers ever".

In a Washington Times editorial, former Republican speaker Newt Gingrich wrote that he was "deeply impressed" with Johnson, who he believes is "doing an excellent job" despite having "the most challenging speakership since the Civil War".

Former Democratic speaker Nancy Pelosi said she respected Johnson and that "we have not that much in common, philosophically, but if you can trust somebody to be a person of his or her word you can find common ground."

In July 2024, the editorial board at The Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece titled "Mike Johnson, Leader of the Free World", in which it wrote that in a recent speech at the Hudson Institute, Johnson "laid down a marker for a GOP that rejects U.S. decline and retreat abroad... He didn't indulge a false choice between meeting problems at home and threats abroad. He is pushing his party in the direction of Ronald Reagan, which is correct for the world moment and politically popular."

Political positions

Johnson receiving the True Blue award from Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, March 1, 2023[138]

2020 presidential election

On November 17, 2020, Johnson said: "You know the allegations about these voting machines, some of them being rigged with this software by Dominion, there's a lot of merit to that. And when the president says the election was rigged, that's what he's talking about. The fix was in. [...] a software system that is used all around the country that is suspect because it came from Hugo Chávez's Venezuela". By October 2022, Johnson said that he had never supported claims that there was massive fraud in the 2020 election.

In December 2020, Johnson led an effort in which 126 Republican U.S. representatives signed an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.

During the January 2021 United States Electoral College vote count, Johnson was one of 120 U.S. representatives who objected to certifying the 2020 presidential election results from both Arizona and Pennsylvania, while another 19 U.S. representatives objected for one of these states. The New York Times called Johnson "the most important architect of the Electoral College objections" because he had argued to reject the results based on the argument of "constitutional infirmity" and persuaded "about three-quarters" of the objectors to use that rationale. Johnson's argument was that certain state officials had violated the Constitution by relaxing restrictions on mail-in voting or early voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic without consulting state legislatures.

On May 19, 2021, Johnson and all other seven Republican House leaders in the 117th Congress voted against establishing a national commission to investigate the January 6, 2021, storming of the United States Capitol. Thirty-five Republican House members and all 217 Democrats present voted to establish the commission.

In 2015, Johnson blamed abortions and the "breakup [of] the nuclear family" for school shootings, saying, "when you tell a generation of people that life has no value, no meaning, that it's expendable, then you do wind up with school shooters." In 2015 and 2016, he led an anti-abortion "Life March" in Shreveport-Bossier City.

Johnson opposed . In Congress, he has supported bills outlawing abortion both at fertilization and at 15 weeks' gestation. In a 2017 House Judiciary Committee meeting, Johnson argued that Roe v. Wade made it necessary to cut social programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid because abortion reduced the labor force and thus damaged the economy.

In January 2023, the House passed a resolution Johnson introduced that condemned "vandalism, violence, and destruction against pro-life facilities, groups, and churches", and added that the House "recognizes the sanctity of life and the important role pro-life facilities, groups, and churches play in supporting pregnant women, infants, and families". At the same time the House passed several bills to assist pregnant women and students.

In the wake of the Dobbs decision, Johnson said that abortion policy was the purview of the states. In May 2024, he said he would not try to pass a nationwide abortion ban.

Climate change and the environment

During a town hall in 2017, Johnson said that he believed that Earth's climate was changing, but questioned the scientific consensus that climate change is caused by humans.

Covenant marriage

Johnson came to some prominence in the late 1990s when he and his wife appeared on television to promote new laws in Louisiana allowing covenant marriages, under which divorce is much more difficult to obtain than in no-fault divorce. In 2005, Johnson appeared on ABC's Good Morning America to promote covenant marriages, saying, "I'm a big proponent of marriage and fidelity and all the things that go with it".

Donald Trump

In 2015, Johnson wrote on Facebook that "Donald Trump... lacks the character and the moral center we desperately need again in the White House", adding: "I am afraid he would break more things than he fixes. He is a hot head by nature, and that is a dangerous trait to have in a Commander in Chief.... I just don't think he has the demeanor to be President."

In 2019, during the first impeachment of Donald Trump, Johnson defended Trump and told White House officials to ignore Congressional subpoenas as " legitimate executive privilege in legal immunity". He served as a member of Trump's legal defense team during both the 2019 and 2021 Senate impeachment trials, each of which resulted in acquittal.

Johnson endorsed Trump's 2024 campaign for president, and Trump has endorsed Johnson. Johnson and Trump are considered close allies, having worked closely together since 2017. Trump has called Johnson "a good man who is trying very hard" and "doing a very good job".

Trump endorsed Johnson in his 2025 speaker bid, and Johnson secured the speakership only after Trump directly spoke with holdout votes. Johnson attended Trump's second inauguration.

Economic policy

In December 2017, Johnson voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. After voting for the Act, he called the economy "stunted" and a "burden" on Americans, adding, "The importance of this moment cannot be overstated. With the first comprehensive tax reform in 31 years, we will dramatically strengthen the U.S. economy and restore economic mobility and opportunity for hardworking individuals and families all across this country." In 2018, Johnson said that entitlement reform is his "number one priority", adding that reforms to entitlement programs have to "happen yesterday" to maintain their long-term solvency.

Johnson rejects the scientific consensus on evolution. He helped the Creation Museum secure millions of dollars in tax subsidies to build a life-sized Ark Encounter, which teaches the discredited claim that dinosaurs accompanied Noah on his Ark and that the earth is 6,000 years old. In 2016, Johnson delivered a sermon that called the teaching of evolution one of the causes of mass shootings: "People say, 'How can a young person go into their schoolhouse and open fire on their classmates?' Because we've taught a whole generation-a couple generations now-of Americans: that there's no right or wrong, that it's about survival of the fittest, and you evolve from the primordial slime. Why is that life of any sacred value? Because there's nobody sacred to whom it's owed."

Foreign policy

China and Taiwan

In July 2024, he promised to pass several bills that propose tough policies on China, saying during a speech to Hudson Institute that "China poses the greatest threat to global peace. Congress must keep our focus on countering China with every tool at our disposal". In December 2024, Johnson spoke with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te during a stopover in Hawaii.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance

Russian invasion of Ukraine

In April 2024, Johnson put forward a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine that contained no border-related provision, which passed in Congress with bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Biden. Some media and politicians called this a " Churchill or Chamberlain" moment, referring to British prime ministers at the beginning of World War II. Johnson said the classified briefings he had received about events unfolding in Ukraine played a significant role in his decision.

Israel-Palestine relations

Johnson and Jim Jordan with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Israel, February 19, 2020

Health care

Johnson voted for the American Health Care Act of 2017, which would have repealed the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Immigration

In January 2024, Johnson opposed a bipartisan, Senate Republican-backed border security and immigration bill that would also provide funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. That bill failed to pass the Senate. During border negotiations, Johnson said that he discussed immigration policy frequently with Trump.

In-vitro fertilization and embryonic stem-cell research

In 2023, Johnson co-sponsored legislation declaring that human life and personhood begin at conception with no exception for in-vitro fertilization treatments involving embryos or embryonic stem-cell research. In 2024, after public backlash to an Alabama Supreme Court decision ruling that embryos are children under Alabama state law, meaning fertility clinics were liable for the loss of embryos as if they were children, Johnson announced that he supports access to in-vitro fertilization. But on March 7, 2024, he clarified that he does not support federal legislation to protect legal access to IVF, saying he believes it is a state issue. Johnson has said IVF "is a remarkable thing and something we ought to preserve and protect".

LGBTQ rights

In 2023, Andrew Kaczynski of CNN wrote that Johnson "has a history of harsh anti-gay language from his time as an attorney for a socially conservative legal group in the mid-2000s". Kaczynski pointed to editorials Johnson wrote in the early 2000s in his local paper, The Shreveport Times, calling homosexuality "inherently unnatural" and a "dangerous lifestyle". When asked about the editorials, Johnson said, "I don't even remember some of them...I was a litigator that was called upon to defend the state marriage amendments." Johnson said he is a Bible-believing Christian who genuinely loves all people and respects the rule of law.

In a 2003 article, Johnson wrote: "Homosexuals do not meet the criteria for a suspect class under the equal protection clause because they are neither disadvantaged nor identified on the basis of immutable characteristics, as all are capable of changing their abnormal lifestyles." He wrote that legalizing same-sex marriage could put the country's "entire democratic system in jeopardy". In another article, he wrote, "experts project that homosexual marriage is the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic".

Johnson opposed the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas, which held that most criminal punishment of private sexual conduct between consenting adults is unconstitutional. Johnson's employer at the time, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), submitted an amicus brief that supported maintaining criminalization. In a 2003 editorial, Johnson wrote, "States have many legitimate grounds to proscribe same-sex deviate sexual intercourse."

In 2005, Johnson campaigned against GLSEN's annual anti-bullying Day of Silence, telling : "that's cloaking their real message-that homosexuality is good for society".

Johnson opposed Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationally. In an interview shortly after he was elected speaker, Johnson said, "I am a rule-of-law guy. I made a career defending the rule of law. I respect the rule of law. When the Supreme Court issued the Obergefell opinion, that became the law of the land, OK."

In 2022, Johnson introduced the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act, which would prohibit federally funded institutions, including public schools and libraries, from mentioning sexual orientation or gender identity. The bill has been compared to the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, commonly referred to as the "Don't Say Gay" law.

Johnson and Betsy DeVos discussing Title IX in relation to women's sports

At a July 2023 hearing on transgender youth, Johnson spoke against allowing children to receive gender-affirming care, saying: "Our American legal system recognizes the important public interest in protecting children from abuse and physical harm". He has co-sponsored legislation that would make it a felony to provide opposite-sex hormones or gender-affirming surgeries to minors.

In 2016, Johnson opposed the expansion of medical marijuana in Louisiana. He argued that medical marijuana can actually worsen some conditions, specifically epilepsy, quoting the American Epilepsy Society's studies that it can cause "severe dystonic reactions and other movement disorders, developmental regression, intractable vomiting, and worsening seizures" in children with epilepsy.

In April 2018, Johnson joined Republican state Attorney General Jeff Landry and Christian actor Kirk Cameron to argue under the First Amendment for student-led prayer and religious expression in public schools.

Johnson has cited David Barton, an evangelical author and political activist, as influential to him.

Personal life

Johnson with his wife Kelly, 2025

Johnson married Kelly Renee Lary on May 1, 1999. Their primary residence is in Benton, Louisiana. The Speaker's lodgings in Washington, D.C., are most likely in his Cannon Office Building office.

The Johnsons have five children, including an adult son, Michael Tirrell James. Johnson and his wife met James, who is black, at an event for Young Life Ministries, took him in, and assumed legal guardianship when he was 14 years old. James, who maintains a private life with his family, has said "if the Johnsons hadn't taken me in as a teenager, my life would look very different today."

In a 2015 German television story about the purity movement, Johnson and his then 13-year-old daughter Hannah were featured attending a purity ball.

Johnson and his wife have co-hosted the podcast Truth Be Told since March 2022, discussing public affairs and other issues from a Christian perspective. On his podcast, Johnson said that "the Word of God is, of course, the ultimate source of all truth", and attributed the success of the United States to its foundation upon a "religious statement of faith".

Johnson describes himself as first and foremost a Christian. An evangelical and Southern Baptist, he has said, "My faith informs everything I do."

References

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James Michael Johnson (born January 30, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 56th speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he is in his fifth House term, having represented Louisiana's 4th congressional district since 2017.

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noun. plural presidents pro tempore. : a member of the U.S. senate and usually a leader of the majority party who is chosen to serve as presiding officer of the senate in the absence of the vice-president.