{
 "judge": "sonnet",
 "judge_model": "claude-sonnet-5.5",
 "arm": "E",
 "contest": "judge",
 "wall_seconds": 23.6,
 "body_words": 625,
 "parsed": {
  "claims": [
   {
    "n": 1,
    "claim": "The Appellate Court hears appeals from circuit courts and orphans' courts.",
    "cited": [
     1
    ],
    "verdict": "supported",
    "severity": "minor",
    "note": "The court page says it considers appeals from almost any case originating in a circuit or orphans' court.",
    "evidence_url": "https://www.mdcourts.gov/acm"
   },
   {
    "n": 2,
    "claim": "If voters choose Yes, Friedman stays until he reaches age 70.",
    "cited": [
     1,
     3
    ],
    "verdict": "contradicted",
    "severity": "major",
    "note": "The court page says judges stand for retention every ten years and may serve until 70. A Yes vote gives another ten-year term, not service to age 70. The page also says his age could not be verified, so the 70 framing misdescribes what a Yes vote does.",
    "evidence_url": "https://www.mdcourts.gov/acm"
   },
   {
    "n": 3,
    "claim": "All appellate judges are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. If Friedman is not retained, a governor would appoint a replacement.",
    "cited": [
     1,
     2
    ],
    "verdict": "supported",
    "severity": "minor",
    "note": "The court page states the appointment and confirmation process. The vacancy-fill step is not shown on that page but is consistent with it. Source [2] does not address it.",
    "evidence_url": "https://www.mdcourts.gov/acm"
   },
   {
    "n": 4,
    "claim": "Friedman has served on the court at large since September 23, 2014.",
    "cited": [
     2
    ],
    "verdict": "supported",
    "severity": "minor",
    "note": "The Maryland Manual gives At Large since 9/23/2014. The court was called the Court of Special Appeals until Dec 2022.",
    "evidence_url": "https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/30sp/html/msa16938.html"
   },
   {
    "n": 5,
    "claim": "He is an adjunct professor at UMD School of Law who teaches constitutional interpretation and has written about Maryland's constitution.",
    "cited": [
     2,
     5
    ],
    "verdict": "supported",
    "severity": "minor",
    "note": "The Manual lists him as adjunct professor since 1998 and author of a Maryland constitution reference guide. The State Court Report article describes his seminar on constitutional interpretation theory.",
    "evidence_url": "https://statecourtreport.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/applying-federal-constitutional-theories-state-constitutions"
   },
   {
    "n": 6,
    "claim": "In a 2023 article he argued judges should use a wide range of interpretive tools rather than a single approach.",
    "cited": [
     5
    ],
    "verdict": "supported",
    "severity": "minor",
    "note": "Published Feb 10, 2023. The author is a judge and UMD seminar teacher, and the article rejects a single method. The first-person article is not explicitly bylined in the excerpt I read.",
    "evidence_url": "https://statecourtreport.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/applying-federal-constitutional-theories-state-constitutions"
   },
   {
    "n": 7,
    "claim": "Before becoming a judge he worked as Assistant Attorney General and as a litigation attorney.",
    "cited": [
     2
    ],
    "verdict": "supported",
    "severity": "minor",
    "note": "The Manual lists Assistant Attorney General 2008-14, Chief of Litigation for Baltimore City, and litigation associate at Miles & Stockbridge.",
    "evidence_url": "https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/30sp/html/msa16938.html"
   },
   {
    "n": 8,
    "claim": "Friedman wrote a 2026 order denying a procedural request while acknowledging the City's concerns.",
    "cited": [
     6
    ],
    "verdict": "supported",
    "severity": "minor",
    "note": "This is imprecise. The two-page order was joined by Nazarian and Gould. Friedman concurred separately, agreeing the stay should be denied but noting the City's 'legitimate concerns'. He did not write the order itself.",
    "evidence_url": "https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/maryland-appeals-court-rejects-baltimore-bid-to-pause-inspector-general-lawsuit"
   },
   {
    "n": 9,
    "claim": "Retirement at 70 would shorten the next term (possible-argument bullet).",
    "cited": [
     1,
     3
    ],
    "verdict": "unsupported",
    "severity": "minor",
    "note": "Speculative and tied to the age-70 mischaracterization. His birth year is not in the Manual, so the effect cannot be assessed."
   },
   {
    "n": 10,
    "claim": "No organization or individual is named as supporting or opposing retention.",
    "cited": [],
    "verdict": "supported",
    "severity": "minor",
    "note": "The page invents no supporters or opponents. I did not search for endorsements."
   }
  ],
  "dead_or_fake_urls": [],
  "invented_attribution": [],
  "endorsement": [],
  "equal_treatment_issues": [
   "The FOR case has sourced facts and the AGAINST case has only hypotheticals. This is disclosed honestly.",
   "The 'Judicial accountability' matcher ties AGAINST to disagreement with recent outcomes, but its only example is a ruling where Friedman agreed with the result."
  ],
  "rubric": {
   "accuracy": 3,
   "sourcing": 4,
   "balance": 3,
   "usefulness": 3,
   "clarity": 4
  },
  "gate": "fail",
  "gate_reasons": [
   "Major claim contradicted: a Yes vote gives another ten-year retention term, not service until age 70. The page misstates what a Yes vote does.",
   "Source [3] (Article IV) was not opened, so the age-70 claim rests on the court page [1]."
  ],
  "summary": "This is a Yes/No retention vote on Judge Dan Friedman, who has been on the Appellate Court since 2014. A Yes vote gives him another ten-year term (judges may serve to age 70), not service until 70 as the page says. The biographical facts check out, but no organized support or opposition was found."
 },
 "raw_tail": "range of interpretive tools rather than a single approach.\",\"cited\":[5],\"verdict\":\"supported\",\"severity\":\"minor\",\"note\":\"Published Feb 10, 2023. The author is a judge and UMD seminar teacher, and the article rejects a single method. The first-person article is not explicitly bylined in the excerpt I read.\",\"evidence_url\":\"https://statecourtreport.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/applying-federal-constitutional-theories-state-constitutions\"},\n    {\"n\":7,\"claim\":\"Before becoming a judge he worked as Assistant Attorney General and as a litigation attorney.\",\"cited\":[2],\"verdict\":\"supported\",\"severity\":\"minor\",\"note\":\"The Manual lists Assistant Attorney General 2008-14, Chief of Litigation for Baltimore City, and litigation associate at Miles & Stockbridge.\",\"evidence_url\":\"https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/30sp/html/msa16938.html\"},\n    {\"n\":8,\"claim\":\"Friedman wrote a 2026 order denying a procedural request while acknowledging the City's concerns.\",\"cited\":[6],\"verdict\":\"supported\",\"severity\":\"minor\",\"note\":\"This is imprecise. The two-page order was joined by Nazarian and Gould. Friedman concurred separately, agreeing the stay should be denied but noting the City's 'legitimate concerns'. He did not write the order itself.\",\"evidence_url\":\"https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/maryland-appeals-court-rejects-baltimore-bid-to-pause-inspector-general-lawsuit\"},\n    {\"n\":9,\"claim\":\"Retirement at 70 would shorten the next term (possible-argument bullet).\",\"cited\":[1,3],\"verdict\":\"unsupported\",\"severity\":\"minor\",\"note\":\"Speculative and tied to the age-70 mischaracterization. His birth year is not in the Manual, so the effect cannot be assessed.\"},\n    {\"n\":10,\"claim\":\"No organization or individual is named as supporting or opposing retention.\",\"cited\":[],\"verdict\":\"supported\",\"severity\":\"minor\",\"note\":\"The page invents no supporters or opponents. I did not search for endorsements.\"}\n  ],\n  \"dead_or_fake_urls\": [],\n  \"invented_attribution\": [],\n  \"endorsement\": [],\n  \"equal_treatment_issues\": [\n    \"The FOR case has sourced facts and the AGAINST case has only hypotheticals. This is disclosed honestly.\",\n    \"The 'Judicial accountability' matcher ties AGAINST to disagreement with recent outcomes, but its only example is a ruling where Friedman agreed with the result.\"\n  ],\n  \"rubric\": {\"accuracy\": 3, \"sourcing\": 4, \"balance\": 3, \"usefulness\": 3, \"clarity\": 4},\n  \"gate\": \"fail\",\n  \"gate_reasons\": [\n    \"Major claim contradicted: a Yes vote gives another ten-year retention term, not service until age 70. The page misstates what a Yes vote does.\",\n    \"Source [3] (Article IV) was not opened, so the age-70 claim rests on the court page [1].\"\n  ],\n  \"summary\": \"This is a Yes/No retention vote on Judge Dan Friedman, who has been on the Appellate Court since 2014. A Yes vote gives him another ten-year term (judges may serve to age 70), not service until 70 as the page says. The biographical facts check out, but no organized support or opposition was found.\"\n}\n```\n\n"
}