NPR Retracts Report Claiming Justice Alito Is Retiring

NPR on June 30 retracted a report that said Justice Samuel Alito was stepping down.

NPR reporter Nina Totenberg reported that the Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that Alito, 76, “is retiring.”

The 29-paragraph story outlined Alito’s history on the bench, primarily focusing on his views on matters such as abortion and the death penalty. Alito authored the majority opinion in the 2022 decision that struck down Roe v. Wade, sending the matter of abortion back to the states.

Shortly after publication, NPR took the article down.

“Earlier today, we erroneously published a story saying that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring,” NPR said in an editor’s note. “Neither Alito nor the court’s public information office has announced his retirement, and we have retracted the story.”

Tommy Evans, NPR’s editor-in-chief, said that what transpired stemmed from “a misunderstanding.”

“As soon as the error was realized, the story was retracted and removed from NPR’s website and an on-air correction was broadcast,” Evans said. “We regret the error and any confusion this may have caused.”

Evans said that Totenberg, 82, who has reported on the Supreme Court for decades and authored a book about her friendship with the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, would be addressing what happened during an afternoon appearance on NPR, and that Totenberg reached out to Alito to apologize.

The Supreme Court and Alito did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If a vacancy arose in the coming months, President Donald Trump would be able to name a replacement.

Three justices nominated by Trump in his first term—Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh—now serve on the court.

President Joe Biden, a Democrat whose single term happened between Trump’s first and second terms, was able to pick one justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Judicial nominees require confirmation from the Senate, which is currently controlled 53–47 by Republicans. Only a majority vote is required.

Alito has served on the court since Jan. 31, 2006. He was nominated by President George W. Bush, a Republican.

Alito is the second-oldest member on the court. The oldest is Justice Clarence Thomas, who was selected by Republican President George H.W. Bush, and the third-oldest is Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was picked by Democratic President Barack Obama.