NPR Retracts Supreme Court Story; Nina Totenberg Calls Error "Worst Professional Mistake" of 50-Year Career

The US public broadcasting organization National Public Radio (NPR) formally retracted a major news story on Tuesday after publishing what appeared to be a significant scoop: that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. The error highlighted the pressures and challenges facing newsrooms in covering high-stakes institutional announcements.

The story was written by Nina Totenberg, 82, one of the most prominent chroniclers of the Supreme Court in American media. NPR later explained that Totenberg had misheard a court announcement about upcoming retirements.

The nearly 1,200-word story was completely removed and replaced with an editor's note: "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."

Patricia McCabe, a spokesperson for the court, told NBC News that "NPR's reporting regarding Justice Alito is inaccurate" and that "their reporting that there was any kind of court statement is inaccurate."

NPR's top editor, Thomas Evans, described the incident as a "misunderstanding." "Neither Justice Alito nor the Supreme Court Public Information Office has announced his retirement," Evans said in a statement. "As soon as the error was realized, the story was retracted and removed from NPR's website and an on-air correction was broadcast. We regret the error and any confusion this may have caused."

Journalistic ethics expert Kelly McBride, who serves as NPR's public editor, published an explanation on Tuesday afternoon clarifying the sequence of events. The error stemmed from Totenberg mishearing an announcement made by Chief Justice John Roberts about upcoming retirements. "NPR had the lengthy story about Alito's retirement already written, because that's what newsrooms do in anticipation of significant retirements and even deaths," McBride wrote. "Totenberg spoke with both her intern, who was at the court with her, and NPR executive editor Krishnadev Calamur, and told them what she heard. Calamur surfaced the story that NPR had previously prepared for the day Alito did announce his retirement and published it."

Totenberg appeared on NPR on Tuesday afternoon and took direct responsibility for the error. "This is on me, and only me," she said, calling it a "rookie mistake." She also read from a letter she had sent to Alito apologizing for the error. "It was the worst professional mistake of my more than 50 years of journalism," she wrote. "I could go on, but I don't know what else to say, other than to say that I am so, so sorry."

Totenberg noted that she had not heard back from Alito, but added: "I didn't expect to hear back from him. It's my mistake. We in the press corps always want people to own up to their mistakes, and they most of the time don't. So I am not going to do that."

Evans appeared on NPR's broadcast alongside Totenberg and acknowledged the institutional responsibility involved. "As editor in chief, I feel ultimate responsibility for anything that NPR is reporting."

The unpublished story had been a comprehensive account of Alito's career, documenting his role on the bench across major decisions including the 2022 ruling overturning Roe v Wade. Totenberg had drawn historical parallels in the piece, noting that "in the history of the Supreme Court, the names of just a few justices are linked with a single very famous, or infamous, decision," and ranking Alito among justices whose names became tied to landmark rulings throughout American judicial history.