NPR retracts article incorrectly reporting Justice Alito's retirement, citing 'misunderstanding'

On the final day of the Supreme Court's session, National Public Radio quickly retracted an article Tuesday that incorrectly reported that Justice Samuel Alito was retiring, blaming the error on “a misunderstanding.”

The article was written by NPR’s veteran Supreme Court reporter, Nina Totenberg, who planned to address the issue on air later in the day, the news organization said.

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

Later, a statement from Editor-in-Chief Tommy Evans said NPR regretted the error and the confusion it may have caused.

“Due to a misunderstanding, NPR’s Supreme Court and Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg incorrectly reported that Justice Samuel Alito had retired. Neither Justice Alito nor the Supreme Court Public Information Office has announced his retirement,” Evans said.

“As soon as the error was realized, the story was retracted and removed from NPR’s website and an on-air correction was broadcast.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 said.

He added that Totenberg would address the issue on Tuesday’s edition of “All Things Considered,” and that she had reached out to Alito to apologize.

NPR had pulled the story after the Supreme Court’s public information office denied the report earlier Tuesday.

On a busy day for the court. Chief Justice John Roberts had announced the retirement of several court employees, as he customarily does after the court’s final opinions are out. But Alito's name was not among them.

Speculation had swirled about the justice’s future plans earlier this year, but Fox News and CBS reported this spring that he planned to remain on the bench.

Alito has been on the court since 2006, when he replaced Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. He was nominated by President George W. Bush, a Republican.