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GhostCite verifies against public court records

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See whether it matches the record

See it work in 10 seconds

Try GhostCite on real citations before checking your own work. No account required. Results appear instantly.

Verified Citation

347 U.S. 483 (Brown v. Board of Education) [Verified]

Found in the public court record

U.S. Supreme Court · Decided May 17, 1954

Holding: Segregation of public schools solely by race violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Source: CourtListener

Verified Citation

410 U.S. 113 (Roe v. Wade) [Verified]

Found in the public court record

U.S. Supreme Court · Decided January 22, 1973

Holding: Recognized a constitutional right to privacy under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause reaching a woman’s decision to terminate a pregnancy.

Source: CourtListener

Impossible Citation

1200 F.3d 500 (Out-of-Bounds Series Volume) [Deficient]

Structurally impossible citation

The F.3d series ended at Volume 999, so Volume 1200 cannot exist.

Why we flagged this

  • The F.3d reporter series concluded permanently at Volume 999
  • Volume 1200 is outside the series and does not exist
  • Not found in any public court database
Source: CourtListener

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Why a saved audit trail matters

When you are signed in, every check is saved as a timestamped record that includes:

  • What you checked
  • When you checked it
  • What GhostCite found
  • Which court record was searched

If a citation is later questioned, you have a timestamped PDF showing you checked it before filing.

A record you can produce later, not just a check you remember doing.

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Why GhostCite Exists

We built GhostCite as a free public utility. AI drafting tools can produce citations that look correct but point to the wrong case, or to a case that does not exist. Confirming each one against the record should be quick, and you should not need an account or another platform to do it before a deadline.

Checking by hand at the last minute is easy to skip under deadline pressure. GhostCite gives your team a consistent way to confirm citations against the public court record, so the check does not depend on memory or time.

For teams that want this built into how they already work, GhostCite can also run inside your firm’s own environment.

Deploy GhostCite Inside Your Firm

Instead of another outside login, GhostCite can run inside your firm’s own environment and check citations as your team drafts.

What running it in-house adds:

  • Automatic checking: citations are verified as drafts are written, so errors surface early instead of at the deadline.
  • Client data stays in-house: identifying details are removed before any text leaves your systems.
  • Built-in checkpoints: a draft can be held for review if a citation does not check out, so it gets a second look before sign-off.
  • You keep control: it runs in an environment your firm owns, and no outside vendor can see your matter history.
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Full tool, paste your own brief or upload a document

Frequently asked questions

Is GhostCite free?
Yes. GhostCite is free. Always. No subscription, no hidden fees, no signup required to use the tool.
Does GhostCite use AI?
Not to judge your citations. GhostCite checks your citation directly against the public court record, so the result comes from the record, not an AI's opinion. No generative AI writes, summarizes, or decides whether your citation is correct. If an exact match cannot be found, GhostCite can still search for the case and clearly labels any result found that way so you can confirm it yourself. You remain responsible for the final review.
How does GhostCite verify legal citations?
Paste your citation or brief text. GhostCite checks it against CourtListener, a public database of US court opinions, and returns a verified result or flags the error.
Does GhostCite replace legal research or a citator?
No. GhostCite answers one question: does your citation match the public court record? It is not a legal research platform and does not replace a citator such as Shepard's or KeyCite. It does not tell you whether a case is still good law or how to apply it to your matter. Use your usual research and citator checks for that.
Do I need to sign up to use GhostCite?
No. Guest mode is available immediately. Create a free account to save timestamped PDF verification receipts for your records.
Can GhostCite detect hallucinated quotes?
Yes. GhostCite checks quoted text against the actual opinion. If the quote does not appear in the cited case, it flags the risk.

About GhostCite

GhostCite verifies citations and quoted passages against CourtListener, a free and open public database of US court opinions. It answers one question: does your citation match the public court record? It is named for Rule 26, the federal disclosure obligation attorneys already carry. GhostCite is a verification tool, not a legal research platform or a citator. It confirms that a citation matches the record. It does not tell you whether a case is still good law or how it applies to your matter. You can paste a single citation, a section, or a full draft. Always run your usual research and a final citator check (Shepard’s, KeyCite) for doctrinal validity.