Legacy Media Retracts Alito Story After SCOTUS Decisions

National Public Radio had to retract a story announcing the retirement of Justice Samuel Alito after the report was deemed false.

The retraction comes after Alito faced widespread criticism over his recent opinions in different Supreme Court cases, including siding with conservative arguments to bar transgender athletes from women’s sports, dissenting in a case involving birthright citizenship, and addressing issues related to mail-in ballots.

In a statement issued after the retraction, NPR insisted that the story was published in error.

“Editor’s note: Earlier today, we erroneously published a story saying that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring,” the outlet published in a separate statement on its website. “Neither Alito nor the court’s public information office has announced his retirement, and we have retracted the story.”

Thomas Evans, editor in chief at NPR, said the reporter has apologized.

“Due to a misunderstanding, NPR’s Supreme Court and Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg incorrectly reported that Justice Samuel Alito had retired,” Evans wrote 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 As soon as the error was realized, the story was retracted and removed from NPR’s website and an on-air correction was broadcast.”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,” Evans continued. “This afternoon, Mrs. Totenberg will appear on All Things Considered to explain what happened. She has reached out to Justice Alito to apologize.”

Speculation about the 76-year-old justice’s retirement arose after he was hospitalized in April, but none of those reports have been reconfirmed.

The Supreme Court denied the reported announcement, saying no such statement had been made by the court or Alito himself.

NPR and Alito’s Supreme Court chambers did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.