Judy Munro-Leighton

Judy Munro-Leighton is an American best known for first accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when the United States Senate was considering his nomination to the United States Supreme Court, only to recant her accusations, afterwards.^[1]

Christine Blasey Ford's accusations were the most prominent Kavanaugh faced, and Munro-Leighton's apparent recantation has been used to defuse Ford's accusations.^[1]

After Ford offered her account of being sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh multiple other accusers came forward.^[1] One of these was an anonymous accusation, contained in a letter from a "Jane Doe". Senator Chuck Grassley outed Munro-Leighton as the author of the Jane Doe letter.^[2]

Munro-Leighton is a professor emeritus at Jefferson Community College in Louisville, Kentucky, where she taught history, for 20 years.^[3] Prior to earning her PhD she worked as an elementary school teacher.

The association of Munro-Leighton with Jane Doe were not credible, because she was older than Kavanaugh, and never lived near him. Grassley never explained how the Senate Committee came to believe she authored the letter.

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Doug Stanglin; Christal Hayes (2018-11-03). "Donald Trump tweets indignation after woman in Kavanaugh saga recants". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on 2018-11-03. Retrieved 2026-10-28. The president appeared to use the issue to cast doubt on other claims made against Kavanaugh.
↑ David Mikkelson (2018-11-03). "Woman Denies Having Sent Graphic 'Jane Doe' Letter Claiming Sexual Assault by Kavanaugh". Snopes. Archived from the original on 2021-11-11. Retrieved 2026-10-28. Several weeks later, after the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings had concluded and the full Senate had voted to confirm Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination, committee chairman Senator Charles Grassley revealed in a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI director Christopher Wray that a woman named Judy Munro-Leighton had sent the committee’s staff an email with the subject line “I am Jane Doe from Oceanside CA — Kavanaugh raped me” and claimed to be the author of that anonymous letter:
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[usatoday-2018-11-03-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Doug Stanglin; Christal Hayes (2018-11-03). "Donald Trump tweets indignation after woman in Kavanaugh saga recants". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on 2018-11-03. Retrieved 2026-10-28. The president appeared to use the issue to cast doubt on other claims made against Kavanaugh.

[Snopes-2018-11-03-2] David Mikkelson (2018-11-03). "Woman Denies Having Sent Graphic 'Jane Doe' Letter Claiming Sexual Assault by Kavanaugh". Snopes. Archived from the original on 2021-11-11. Retrieved 2026-10-28. Several weeks later, after the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings had concluded and the full Senate had voted to confirm Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination, committee chairman Senator Charles Grassley revealed in a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI director Christopher Wray that a woman named Judy Munro-Leighton had sent the committee’s staff an email with the subject line “I am Jane Doe from Oceanside CA — Kavanaugh raped me” and claimed to be the author of that anonymous letter:

[ForwardRadio-2022-06-09-3] Template:Cite podcast

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