NPR has retracted a story about Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito after mistakenly reporting on Tuesday that he was retiring.
The move comes after the original article by Nina Totenberg sparked panic among press covering the Supreme Court. The mistake was flagged in the live chat of SCOTUS Blog where they were discussing the court’s opinions, with one user writing: “NPR is announcing that Alito is retiring — but still has not been confirmed” to which another responded: “So much for my lunch.”
Another questioned whether the article was posted by mistake. After asking the Supreme Court’s Public Information Office for confirmation, it was later confirmed that the reporting was inaccurate and that NPR was taking it down.
“This as you can expect, is causing quite a stir in the Press Room,” a moderator of the live chat said. “The PIO just emphasized that the court has not made any announcement to that effect.”
In addition to reporting his retirement, the article’s headline highlighted Alito’s decision to vote in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade, while its copy noted that the judge was “indelibly linked with the court’s opinion overturning a half century’s worth of decisions declaring that women have a right to abortion.”
It also stated that Alito has had a key role on the court, “often leading the conservative charge, not just on abortion, but for expanded religious rights, against LGBTQ+ rights, against expanded voting rights, for the death penalty, against labor unions and more.”
The story has since been replaced by an editor’s note which states: “Earlier today we erroneously published a story saying that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. He has not announced his retirement and we have retracted the story.”
NPR Editor in Chief Thomas Evans also issued a statement explaining that Totenberg incorrectly reported Alito’s retirement due to a “misunderstanding” and that the outlet regrets the error and apologizes for any confusion it may have caused.
“This afternoon, Mrs. Totenberg will appear on ‘All Things Considered’ to explain what happened,” Evans added. “She has reached out to Justice Alito to apologize.”
