This is interesting— apologies if posted already in the thread about it—
The source of that Roberts rumour appears to be some law prof at Georgetown Law who was giving a lecture and made this torturous example; his students started tweeting, texting, and emailing the ‘rumour’ immediately, before he revealed it was a joke during that same lecture:

Anatomy of a Rumor: The Story Behind Chief Justice John Roberts’s ‘Retirement’

Like many a promising legal career, the Roberts resignation rumor traces its origins to a 1L class at Georgetown University Law Center….

Here’s an account of what went down in Professor Peter Tague’s criminal law class this morning, from a 1L at Georgetown Law:

and

Note the timestamps on the Radar posts. The first one came out at 6:10 a.m., i.e., the Pacific Time equivalent of 9:10 a.m. Eastern time. The retraction came out at 6:36 a.m., i.e., the
Pacific Time equivalent of 9:36 a.m. Eastern — shortly after Professor Tague let his class in on the joke.