Jeh Johnson

Doctor of Laws

An experienced litigator, dedicated public servant, and champion of equal justice under law, Jeh Johnson has long been a stalwart leader with an intrinsic sense of duty to his country.

He comes from a line of influential Black Americans. His paternal grandfather was a renowned sociologist and the first Black president of Fisk University. A great-great grandfather on his mother’s side was the founding secretary of Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church in Alabama, the starting point for the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights marches in 1965.

When Johnson was 10 years old, the events of 1968—including the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, Vietnam War protests, and NASA’s Apollo 8 mission—instilled in him a desire to serve his country. “I was captivated by it all,” he once said, and he came to believe that “a citizen should want to be part of national and world events occurring around him.” At Morehouse College, he set his sights on a legal career as a path to achieve justice for the underserved. After graduation, he earned a J.D. from Columbia University and joined Paul, Weiss as an associate. He later became the firm’s first Black partner.

Throughout his career, he has moved between private practice and public service, beginning with his 1989 appointment as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York. As general counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense, he co-authored the 2010 report that paved the way for repeal of the 1993 “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that barred openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual people from military service. Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has described Johnson as “the finest lawyer I ever worked with in government—a straightforward, plain-speaking man of great integrity, with common sense to burn and a good sense of humor.” 

In 2013, President Barack Obama appointed him to serve as the nation’s Secretary of Homeland Security, where he is widely credited with raising morale and building a more effective, cohesive department. Johnson returned to Paul, Weiss in 2017, but he remains committed to public service. In 2020, he completed a four-month assessment of racial bias in the New York state court system and issued a report detailing 13 recommendations for reform. The court system has since implemented many of his recommendations, including bias training for jurors and court employees, community outreach and education programs, and the hiring of a statewide equal justice coordinator.

For his commitment to public service and public safety, and to building a more just, equitable society, we, the President and Trustees of Fordham University, in solemn convocation assembled and in accord with the chartered authority bestowed on us by the Regents of the University of the State of New York, declare Jeh Johnson Doctor of Laws, honoris causa. That he may enjoy all rights and privileges of this, our highest honor, we have issued these letters patent under our hand and the corporate seal of the University on this, the 20th day of May in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty-Three.