By National Public Radio briefly published a story Tuesday claiming Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring, then removed the article after it became clear no such announcement had been made.
The story said the Supreme Court had announced the retirement of the longtime conservative justice, who has served on the court since 2006 and authored the 2022 opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. But neither Alito nor the Supreme Court’s public information office had issued any retirement announcement.
The article disappeared from NPR’s website roughly 10 minutes after publication, noted The Daily Caller.
SCOTUS Wire wrote on Twitter: “NPR mistakenly published an article reporting the retirement of Justice Samuel Alito. No such announcement has been made by Justice Alito or the Court.”
The now-removed NPR story appeared to be a prepared retrospective on Alito’s career and legacy. Before it was taken down, the article included sweeping language placing Alito among justices whose names became tied to landmark Supreme Court decisions, including Chief Justice John Marshall, Roger Taney and Earl Warren.
The story stated: “[I]n our own times, Alito’s name is indelibly linked with the court’s opinion overturning a half century’s worth of decisions declaring that women have a right to abortion.”
The original NPR link later displayed an editor’s note: “This story has been taken down. It was published in error.”
The mistake immediately triggered speculation because of the political stakes surrounding any potential Alito retirement. If Alito were to step down, President Donald Trump would have another opportunity to shape the Supreme Court, adding to the three justices he appointed during his first term.
It also came after months of speculation about Alito’s future. In December, court watchers noted that Alito, one of the oldest members of the court, had been the subject of renewed retirement talk as Trump returned to office with a Republican-controlled Senate. In April, the speculation intensified after reports that Alito had been briefly hospitalized for dehydration following a Federalist Society event in Philadelphia.
Alito, despised by the Left who has threatened to impeach him, later returned to his duties on the bench and continued participating in major cases before the court.
The NPR error added a new layer to that speculation. According to SCOTUS Wire, records from the Wayback Machine suggested the article announcing Alito’s retirement had been scheduled for Friday.
According to Wayback Machine, the NPR article announcing Justice Alito's retirement was supposed to be published on Friday. pic.twitter.com/jAic44FhU4
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) June 30, 2026
That does not confirm that Alito is planning to retire, but it fueled questions about whether NPR accidentally published an advance story before a possible future announcement.
News organizations often prepare stories in advance for major anticipated events, including retirements, deaths, election outcomes and court decisions. Those drafts are not supposed to go live unless the event actually occurs. When they do, the result can be an embarrassing mistake, especially when the subject is a sitting Supreme Court justice.
For now, Alito remains on the court. No retirement has been announced, and NPR has acknowledged that its story was published in error.
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