Verify-Before-Cite Resolution Gate

Problem

Language models are fluent at producing authoritative-looking references that do not resolve to anything real, and the fabrication looks correct until a reader checks it. In regulated domains a single non-existent citation that ships can trigger sanctions, retractions, or lasting loss of trust. Binding a citation to a retrieved chunk is not enough, because the cited authority may sit outside the retrieval set entirely, and the model's own confidence in the citation is uncorrelated with whether the authority exists. The system needs an external, deterministic existence check that runs on the finished output rather than trusting the text as written.

Solution

Run a deterministic post-generation stage between the model and the reader. First parse the structured citations out of the answer: case names and docket numbers, statute identifiers, paper titles, digital object identifiers. For each, query an external authority index — a legal database such as Westlaw, LexisNexis, or CourtListener, or a medical index such as PubMed — and require an exact match on the load-bearing fields (the docket number, the jurisdiction, the title verbatim). A citation that resolves is kept and annotated with the resolved record. A citation that fails to resolve — fabricated, repealed, wrong jurisdiction, non-existent docket — is stripped from the output, flagged for review, or, in the strictest setting, blocks delivery of the whole answer until a human or a regeneration pass repairs it. The gate is deterministic and runs on every output, so the model cannot smuggle an invented authority past it regardless of how confident the prose sounds.

When to use

• Outputs cite external authorities — cases, statutes, papers, digital object identifiers — that a reader will rely on or act upon.
• An external ground-truth registry exists that the cited authorities can be resolved against, such as Westlaw, CourtListener, or PubMed.
• A fabricated or wrong citation reaching the reader carries regulatory, safety, or trust consequences.