Op-Ed: Robert Luther: Speaker Mike Johnson is agent of stability in the House
Mike Johnson combines the common sense of Ronald Reagan with the jurisprudence of Antonin Scalia, and the courage of one who knew that what’s popular isn’t always right.
During my career in the conservative movement, I’ve seen that politics and governing are hard work. They require compromise and leaders who can navigate tricky problems while remaining true to their core principles. House members have precisely this kind of leader in Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.), and they should vote to re-elect him as Speaker of the House on Friday.
Speaker Johnson is so well-entrenched of late that we have come to take his leadership amid almost impossible circumstances for granted. People can and will always criticize any leader’s specific tactics, but Johnson has done what few others could: govern with a historically small margin.
With such a slim majority, and a Democrat-controlled Senate and White House, Speaker Johnson had had his work cut out for him. And thanks to a few obstructionists, Johnson’s job was even harder. Even still, he put up an effective defense against the Democrats’ agenda, while laying the groundwork for an aggressive 119th Congress with a Republican Senate and a Trump White House.
Johnson’s ability to unite the Republican conference, along with the utter stupidity of a Speakership fight just before the January 6th election certification, is precisely why Donald Trump gave Johnson his total endorsement.
To be sure, when the Speaker was first elected to lead the House, I was shocked. Not because I didn’t know who he was — I’ve known him for fifteen years — but because men of principle, courage, and faith so rarely rise to the top of anything in Washington.
When we served together in the legal trenches, I saw a man who combined the common sense of Ronald Reagan with the jurisprudence of Antonin Scalia, and the courage of one who knew that what’s popular isn’t always right, and what’s right isn’t always popular.
In 2011, for example, Johnson represented a county government that had been sued by the ACLU for allowing its board members to pray. But as a First Amendment attorney and expert in religious liberty law, he delivered a forceful defense of the county’s practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Three years later, the U.S. Supreme Court adopted his arguments in Town of Greece v. Galloway. Johnson’s diligence led to greater clarity and protection for the free exercise rights of Americans, and in the end, the truth won.
Today, Mike Johnson is still guided by truth, but now he’s doing so in Congress rather than in the courts. Although he did not originally seek the role, he was the perfect choice for Speaker at a difficult moment in Congress. Now, with unified Republican control of the federal government, we will soon see that Johnson is just getting started implementing the vision of American greatness that he shares with President Trump.
Winston Churchill reminds us that good leaders will inevitably make enemies, and, unsurprisingly, the Speaker has made a few — but only a few. Even still, he does not hold their disagreements against them and has shown that he will sit down with all sides of the Republican conference, including the ones criticizing him.
But perhaps the thing conservatives should appreciate most about Mike Johnson is that he holds onto his role loosely and sees the role of Speaker as a stewardship.
Unlike many who came before him, Johnson did not view the Speakership as his rightful prize, but as a position that must be used for the good of the country. Because of that, Johnson is willing to fight for the right policies and principles even when they are unpopular, just like he did when he was an attorney.
We all saw this attitude when several House members were threatening to remove Johnson during a contentious legislative fight and he heartfeltly told reporters that he would “do the right thing, and let the chips fall where they may.”
Mike Johnson’s principle, courage, and faith are rare among leaders in Washington, and that is precisely why all those who want to Make America Great Again should vote to re-elect him Speaker this Friday.
Mr. Luther serves as Distinguished Professor of Law at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and formerly served as Associate Counsel to the President of the United States during the Trump administration.
