NPR Retracts Alito Retirement Report After Reporter Mishears Announcement

NPR was compelled to retract a report falsely claiming Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring, an error attributed to legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg mishearing an announcement. The report, which appeared briefly on NPR's website and airwaves Tuesday, was taken down and corrected within minutes.

Totenberg explained that as she was leaving the courtroom after opinion announcements, she misheard Chief Justice John Roberts' statement about upcoming retirements. She stated that she did not hear the plural "announcements" and mistakenly assumed Justice Alito was retiring. Totenberg described the error as "entirely on me" and a "rookie mistake" in her more than 50 years of journalism.

She issued a written apology to Justice Alito, stating, "There are no words to adequately apologize for today's error in reporting your retirement. It was entirely my fault." Totenberg noted that she had not received a response from the justice.

NPR Executive Editor Krishnadev Calamur confirmed that Totenberg had reached out to Alito personally to apologize. "We profoundly regret the error and the confusion that this has caused," Calamur told NPR Public Editor Kelly McBride. NPR editor Thomas Evans also confirmed the mistake to Fox News Digital, emphasizing that neither Justice Alito nor the Supreme Court Public Information Office had announced his retirement.

The erroneous report was published on NPR's website at 10:51 a.m. ET and remained live for approximately five minutes before being replaced with an editor's note by 10:57 a.m. ET. The correction was made on the broadcast by 11:07 a.m. ET. Some member station websites reportedly carried the incorrect story for longer periods.

Justice Alito, appointed in 2005 by President George W. Bush, is 76 years old and has served on the Court for over two decades. Speculation about his potential retirement has been fueled by his age and tenure. Sources had previously indicated to Fox News Digital that Alito was not stepping down this term and was in the process of hiring clerks for the following term.