The US public broadcasting organization National Public Radio (NPR) on Tuesday took the unusual step of formally retracting a major news story, after it published what seemed like a bombshell scoop that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. The story was written by Nina Totenberg, one of the most prominent chroniclers of the Supreme Court in American media.
Retraction and Editor's Note
The nearly 1200-word story was completely removed and replaced with an editor's note stating: "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." The opening paragraph of the story cited a "court announcement" that Alito was retiring, but no announcement had been made at the time of publication.
Court Response and NPR's Explanation
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." On Tuesday afternoon, NPR's top editor, Thomas Evans, chalked the errant publication up to a "misunderstanding."
"Due to a misunderstanding, NPR's Supreme Court and Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg incorrectly reported that Justice Samuel Alito had retired," Evans said in a statement. "Neither Justice Alito nor the Supreme Court Public Information Office has announced his retirement. As soon as the error was realized, the story was retracted and removed from NPR's website and an on-air correction was broadcast.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. This afternoon, Mrs. Totenberg will appear on All Things Considered to explain what happened. She has reached out to Justice Alito to apologize."
Content of the Erroneous Story
Totenberg's story was a sprawling account of Alito's career on the court. It noted prominently that Alito wrote the opinion in the court's historic 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The story included quotes comparing Alito's legacy to Chief Justices John Marshall, Roger Taney, and Earl Warren. However, there was evidence the story was still a work in progress: in the second-to-last paragraph, a Yale University law professor was quoted as saying that Alito "took sown [sic] Roe versus Wade. So that's how he will be forever remembered."
The Guardian has contacted NPR's media relations team for further comment on the retraction.
