The US Supreme Court is the final arbiter of justice when it comes to matters of life and death, civil rights, and presidential elections.

But the high court is acknowledging that it made an embarrassing blunder last month when it informed Christopher P. Sullivan, the incoming president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, that he was suspended from practicing in the court and had 40 days to show why he should not be disbarred.

Apparently, the court said, it meant to discipline another attorney also named Christopher P. Sullivan, the one who is serving a prison sentence in Vermont after killing a 71-year-old woman whom he hit while driving drunk in 2013.

In a formal mea culpa issued Tuesday, the Supreme Court called it a case of “mistaken identity.’’

The Christopher P. Sullivan who is president-elect of the state bar association was in Baltimore for a federal breach-of-contract trial last week and could not be reached for comment on the Supreme Court’s unusual gaffe.

But the flub has not gone unnoticed among his colleagues at Robins Kaplan and the state bar association.

“I’m sure that the court is somewhat red-faced about exactly how this proceeded and obviously probably wouldn’t have liked this to come to light,’’ said Martin W. Healy, the bar association’s chief operating officer and chief legal counsel.

He said he had never heard of a lawyer from Massachusetts mistakenly punished by the highest court in the land.

Kathy Arberg, a Supreme Court spokeswoman, blamed the error on the clerk’s office, which she said received a notice in April from a New York court that an attorney named Christopher P. Sullivan had been disbarred.

The clerk’s office, she said, mistakenly believed this was the Christopher P. Sullivan who was slated to lead the Massachusetts Bar Association and issued a formal notice May 15 that he was going to be disbarred in the Supreme Court, as well.

When the discipline notice arrived at the offices of Robins Kaplan in Boston, the firm immediately knew that the court had targeted the wrong Christopher Sullivan, said Anthony A. Froio, the managing partner in the office.

“We knew it was a case of mistaken identity immediately because, as you can imagine — Christopher P. Sullivan, there’s a number of them in the country,’’ Froio said.

In addition, Froio said he knew the Christopher Sullivan in his office — a veteran litigator with 40 years of experience — had never been disbarred in New York.

Robins Kaplan contacted the Supreme Court, which issued a formal notice two weeks later, on May 30, acknowledging that it had the wrong man and that Christopher Sullivan of Boston was not going to be suspended or disbarred.

“It shows that human fallibility applies equally to courts and judges as it does to every profession,’’ Healy said. “But knowing Chris, I’m not sure it rattled his cage too much. He’s a very down-to-earth individual.’’

Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @mlevenson.