On Tuesday, NPR released a shocking and false report on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s impending retirement.
Legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg penned a groveling apology to the justice after the story was “published in error” before being retracted.
Look:
Totenberg read the text of the apology message she sent to Justice Alito:
“Dear Justice Alito, there are no words to adequately apologize for today’s error in reporting your retirement. It was entirely my fault. I rushed out of the courtroom after the opinion announcements, and…
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 30, 2026
“Dear Justice Alito, there are no words to adequately apologize for today’s error in reporting your retirement,” reads the apology letter, as reported by Brian Stelter. “It was entirely my fault. I rushed out of the courtroom after the opinion announcements, and when I realized that the usual rush of folks after a few minutes had not happened, I asked somebody what was going on inside, to which the answer was, ‘retirement announcements.’ I didn’t hear the ‘s’ on ‘announcements,’ and I assumed something no reporter should ever do: that you were retiring. It was the worst professional mistake of my more than 50 years in journalism. I could go on, but I don’t know what else to say, except that I am so, so sorry.”
The outlet also published an article explaining that the mistake may have been due to Totenberg mishearing an “announcement about retirements as she was leaving the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday.”
“As a result, an NPR headline erroneously claimed that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. The headline sat atop a lengthy story that recapped the conservative justice’s tenure. The error was also reported on NPR’s airwaves,” the piece continues. “Alito is not retiring. The story was wrong.”
NPR admitted that they already had a draft of Alito’s retirement story drawn up, as is common in large newsrooms.
“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. NPR was offering special live coverage of the court’s decision on the birthright citizenship case,” NPR explained.
“We profoundly regret the error and the confusion that this has caused, and Nina has reached out to Alito to apologize personally,” Calamur reportedly said following the publication.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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