The More HE Looks at AJ Johnson, The More Evidence There is of Unchecked Corruption.

What? This was on Facebook. The oath was adminstered to Johnson by Indiana Supreme Court Justice Christopher Goff? WTF! A Justice Swearing in a County Magistate Statistically Approaches Zero From The Right.

WHY WAS AN INDIANA SUPREME COURT JUSTICE SWEARING IN A.J. JOHNSON?

Justice Christopher Goff personally administered the oath to a newly appointed Hamilton County magistrate who had just left the Supreme Court's own staff. Perhaps it was nothing more than professional courtesy. But after Johnson's abrupt departure from the bench, the photograph deserves another look.

Follow-Up Investigation | Hoosier Enquirer

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — Sometimes a photograph becomes more interesting with age.

On August 1, 2024, Aaron “A.J.” Johnson stood inside the Hamilton County Government & Judicial Center with his family beside him. His right hand was raised. His family held the Bible. Standing opposite Johnson and administering the oath was not merely another Hamilton County judge.

It was Indiana Supreme Court Justice Christopher M. Goff, one of only five justices sitting on Indiana's highest court.

The photograph accompanying this article captures the moment.

At the time, there was little apparent reason to regard it as anything other than a happy ceremonial occasion. Hamilton County's eight elected judges had hired Johnson as a magistrate. Johnson described becoming a judge as his lifelong dream, and Superior Court Judge Jonathan Brown publicly predicted that Johnson would be a “spectacular addition” to the county judiciary. (Hamilton County)

But two years later, the photograph looks different.

Johnson's judicial career didn't unfold as expected. He subsequently announced a campaign for Hamilton County Superior Court 4, departed the magistrate position and did not proceed to the 2026 Republican primary as the judicial candidate he had announced himself to be.

That makes HE interested in something we initially overlooked:

Why was Justice Christopher Goff there in the first place? Will the DOJ or FBI investigate this mess now?

NOT IMPROPER — BUT CERTAINLY INTERESTING, AN AMAZING ODDITY FOR SURE

Let's dispense immediately with an accusation this article is not making.

There is nothing inherently improper about an Indiana Supreme Court justice administering an oath to another judicial officer. Supreme Court justices participate in ceremonial activities throughout Indiana, and Goff himself spent 12 years as a trial judge before Gov. Eric Holcomb appointed him to the Supreme Court in 2017. (Indiana Government)

Nor does Goff's presence prove that he arranged Johnson's appointment, pressured Hamilton County's judges to hire him or knew anything about alleged misconduct now being raised concerning Johnson's earlier disciplinary work.

HE presently has no evidence establishing any of those things.

But “not improper” and “not interesting” are two very different conclusions.

Johnson wasn't joining the Indiana Supreme Court. He wasn't joining the Court of Appeals. He wasn't even becoming one of Hamilton County's eight independently elected judges.

He was becoming a magistrate hired by those eight judges.

Hamilton County reported that Johnson was filling a magistrate vacancy created when Valorie Hahn became the county's juvenile magistrate. Current Publishing reported that Hamilton County then had five magistrates working alongside its eight elected judges. (Hamilton County)

Yet standing across from this newly hired county magistrate was a justice of Indiana's highest court.

Why? HE CAN'T STOP DWELLING ON THIS SITUATION.

THE ANSWER MAY BE JOHNSON'S SUPREME COURT CONNECTION

There is an obvious possible explanation, and it actually makes the photograph more—not less—interesting. BUT EVEN THEN, WHY? WAS HE TRANSITIONED OUT OF HIS PRIOR POWERFUL ROLE, AND BEING MADE SPECIAL? SURE LOOKS LIKE IT.

HOW COMMON IS THIS?

HE searched publicly available Indiana material for comparable examples of sitting Supreme Court justices personally administering ceremonial oaths to newly appointed county magistrates.

We found ample evidence of Indiana Supreme Court justices participating in judicial ceremonies generally. That isn't unusual in itself. Chief Justice Loretta Rush, for example, administered Justice Geoffrey Slaughter's oath when he joined the Indiana Supreme Court. (Indiana Court Times)

We did not, however, locate enough comparable examples to conclude that having one of Indiana's five Supreme Court justices personally swear in an incoming county magistrate is routine. NONE IN FACT.

That doesn't prove it is extraordinarily rare either.

HE therefore isn't going to manufacture a statistic we don't possess.

Instead, we would like the Indiana Supreme Court to answer a remarkably simple question:

How often does this happen?

During Goff's tenure beginning in 2017, how many county magistrates has he personally sworn into office? How many magistrate robing ceremonies have any of Indiana's five Supreme Court justices attended? Was Johnson's ceremony one of dozens—or was it exceptional?

Those numbers would settle the question rather quickly. HE ALWAYS KNEW THE JUSTICES WEREN'T THAT BUSY IN THEIR OFFICIAL ROLES AND TRAVEL THE WORLD.

AND WHY GOFF?

There is another question Why Christopher Goff?

Johnson had worked as General Counsel for the Supreme Court. Before that, he worked for the Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission. Goff was simultaneously serving as one of the five justices at the top of the judicial branch. (Indiana Government)

What was their professional relationship?

Did Johnson work directly with Goff? Was Goff being used too by Rush?

Did Goff recommend Johnson for the Hamilton County position?

Did Johnson request that Goff administer his oath?

Did one of Hamilton County's eight elected judges invite Goff?

Was Goff simply the Supreme Court justice available that day?

Those questions aren't accusations. They are precisely the kinds of ordinary questions journalists should ask when an unusual-looking photograph surfaces in the middle of a much larger story.

And perhaps the answers will make the entire thing utterly mundane.

HE would happily report that.

THE PHOTOGRAPH CAPTURES SOMETHING ELSE

Even if Goff's participation turns out to have been nothing more than professional courtesy, the photograph establishes something important about Johnson's career at that moment.

A.J. Johnson was not an outsider fighting Indiana's judicial establishment. He was coming directly from inside it. And so what happened? Where is he now? Why are we at HE the only media asking the quesitons the a glaring?

Hamilton County's government publicly celebrated his Supreme Court experience. Eight elected Hamilton County judges selected him. A Hamilton County judge publicly praised him. And an Indiana Supreme Court justice stood in the courtroom and personally administered his oath. (Hamilton County)

Look at the photograph.

This was a man apparently being welcomed into the Hamilton County judiciary with considerable institutional confidence.

That's what makes what happened afterward so fascinating.

Aaron "AJ" Johnson subsequently sought an elected judgeship. Then he left the magistrate position. His announced judicial campaign disappeared before the 2026 Republican primary.

The trajectory went from Supreme Court insider, to county magistrate, to aspiring elected judge—and then abruptly away from the bench.

What changed?

WHO CHAMPIONED AARON "A.J." JOHNSON'S PROMOTION TO JUDGE, AND WHY?

That may now be the bigger question.

HE's continuing investigation shouldn't merely ask where Johnson went. It should reconstruct who championed his rise through Indiana's judicial system.

Who hired Johnson at the Disciplinary Commission? Who supervised him? Who selected him for the Supreme Court General Counsel position? What exactly were his responsibilities there? Who recommended him to Hamilton County's eight elected judges? Who first approached whom about the magistrate vacancy? Who invited Justice Goff to the ceremony? And what, if anything, changed between that celebratory August 2024 photograph and Johnson's later departure?

None of those questions presupposes corruption.

They seek to understand the institutional relationships surrounding a public official whose career changed remarkably quickly.

Chief Justice Loretta Rush's official biography states that, as chief justice, she supervises Indiana's judicial branch, including the central administrative operation dealing with matters ranging from court technology to admission and discipline of lawyers. (Indiana Government)

Johnson spent years working inside that larger judicial structure.

That makes his path through it a legitimate subject of scrutiny.

JUSTICE GOFF SHOULD BE ABLE TO CLEAR THIS UP

HE therefore has several straightforward questions for Justice Goff.

Why did he personally administer Aaron Johnson's oath? Who invited him? What was his professional relationship with Johnson? Had he recommended Johnson for the Hamilton County magistrate position? Had the two worked together during Johnson's time as Supreme Court General Counsel? And did Goff have any involvement whatsoever in Johnson's later decision to leave the magistrate position?

There may be perfectly ordinary answers to every one of them.

Indeed, Goff's participation could ultimately demonstrate nothing more sinister than this: a Supreme Court justice doing a ceremonial favor for a former colleague who was leaving the Court's staff to become a magistrate.

But that's an answer—not something journalists should assume.

ONE PICTURE, MANY QUESTIONS

The photograph deserves to be viewed in its proper context.

It does not prove corruption. It doesn't prove favoritism. It doesn't prove Justice Goff knew anything improper about Johnson. It doesn't prove the Supreme Court engineered Johnson's appointment.

What it does prove is that Indiana Supreme Court Justice Christopher Goff personally stood before Aaron “A.J.” Johnson and administered the oath when Johnson entered the Hamilton County judiciary. Contemporary coverage confirms exactly that. (Current)

And knowing what happened afterward makes the picture difficult to ignore.

Less than two years ago, Johnson stood with his family in a Hamilton County courtroom while one of Indiana's five Supreme Court justices welcomed him into judicial service. He appeared to be a rising figure in Indiana's legal establishment, moving from the Disciplinary Commission to Supreme Court General Counsel to the Hamilton County bench, with an elected judgeship seemingly the next rung on the ladder.

Then the ladder disappeared.

Maybe Justice Goff's presence meant absolutely nothing beyond friendship and professional courtesy. Maybe Supreme Court justices swear in county magistrates all the time and nobody has bothered compiling the numbers.

If so, Indiana's judiciary can tell us.

But until somebody explains why one of the five most powerful judges in Indiana personally showed up to swear in this particular newly appointed magistrate, the photograph adds another legitimate question to the growing A.J. Johnson mystery:

Who was behind his remarkable rise—and what happened after this picture was taken? Where is he and what has happened to his Indiana legal career today?