While there are always rumors about Supreme Court justices retiring, especially after releasing their final decisions of the term, it was a genuine surprise when NPR reported “Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, retires.”
It was an even bigger surprise, minutes later, when it became clear the report was a mistake. The folks at SCOTUSblog — who were still running a liveblog about this morning’s decisions — expressed their own skepticism about the report. Then they confirmed that NPR chief Supreme Court correspondent Nina Totenberg, who has previously broken stories of justices’ retirements, said it was an error.
Not long after, NPR took down the article and posted a retraction in its place. NPR editor-in-chief Tommy Evans soon released a statement saying Totenberg “incorrectly reported” the news and has reached out to Alito to apologize. He also said she would “explain what happened” on All Things Considered.
NPR public editor Kelly McBride later wrote that Totenberg “misheard an announcement about retirements,” calling the false report “a result of an honest mistake and a rush to publish” but something they could and should have caught:
Totenberg was reporting on the final day of the Supreme Court session on Tuesday. As she was leaving the court, Chief Justice John Roberts was announcing upcoming retirements. Totenberg misheard Roberts’ statement. 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.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. The information was also broadcast on NPR’s airwaves.
