Force the citation, then verify it exists before you rely on it

1 · Learn the move · Fact-check list

A citation is a claim that a document exists and says a thing. The model can make the claim; it cannot make the document. So the discipline is two steps that never merge. Force the citation: every proposition in the draft gets the provision it rests on, in a form you can open, with VERIFY beside it. Then open it: the statute on the government's site, the regulation in the CFR, the ruling in the bulletin, the case in the court's own reporter, not a summary of any of them. A citation that does not resolve is removed, not softened. A citation that resolves but does not say what the draft says it says is the more dangerous one, and the only cure is reading the paragraph. The model's job is the list: proposition | citation | where to open it | VERIFY. Your job is the opening. Nothing in the draft is relied on until the VERIFY beside it has been replaced, by you, with the date you read it. Draft copy, not legal advice. Reviewed by: nobody yet.

Here is a draft research memo: [paste]. Pull every proposition of law out of it, one per line, and beside each write the authority the draft rests it on, in a form I can open (section, regulation, ruling number, case name and reporter). If a proposition has no authority, write [NEEDS: authority]. Beside every authority write VERIFY and the place I would open it (statute site / CFR / bulletin / court reporter). Do not tell me any citation is correct; you cannot know. End with the count of propositions and the count with no authority.