Texas Supreme Court Justice Phil Johnson/courtesy photo

Texas Supreme Court Justice Phil Johnson, a decorated former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot who served as an appellate court judge for two decades, announced he will retire from the Texas Supreme Court at the end of the year.

“You feel like in this position, you can make a difference. The law is the superstructure of society, the framework for doing what we can do,” he said. “I'll miss that I was contributing. That's what I'll miss about it.”

Johnson, who is 74, has a term ending in December 2020. Texas law requires judges to retire from the bench at age 75 but allows them to serve out their complete terms if they so choose.

“I'm finishing up 20 years at the end of this year, I just thought that was enough for me,” Johnson said. “And I have some family considerations.”

He served from 1967 to 1968 in the Vietnam War, where he won the Silver Star; the Distinguished Flying Cross, with bronze oak-leaf cluster; the Air Medal, with multiple oak-leaf clusters; and the Republic of Viet Nam Cross of Gallantry. Johnson continued as an Air Force instructor until 1972, when he enrolled in Texas Tech University School of Law.

Johnson graduated law school in 1975 and joined the Crenshaw Dupree & Milam law firm in Lubbock. He was later elected to the Amarillo Court of Appeals in 1998 and appointed to the Texas Supreme Court in 2005 by then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Johnson leaves the court as its third-most-senior judge behind Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, who joined the court in 1988, and Justice Paul Green, who was elected to the court in 2004.

“He has made a vast and indelible contribution to Texas law,” Hecht said. “Justice Johnson is greatly beloved and admired by the court and its staff, and we will miss his wise and steady leadership greatly.”

Likewise, Johnson said he'll miss his colleagues on the high court.

“I've served with quite a few justices, and you've had different personalities go through, but my view is the court has always acted appropriately,” Johnson said. “We would disagree, but it's always been in a professional way. It's been a privilege to me to serve with the people I've served with on the court.''

Johnson also said he plans to move away from the high court's home in Austin soon as a way of making good on a promise he made to his wife over 13 years ago.

“We raised our family in Lubbock. And my wife is pretty partial to Lubbock,” Johnson said. “And I said, when this is over, we'll go back to Lubbock. It's a 95 percent we'll end up back in Lubbock.''