> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.truthsystems.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# The Ruling object

> Understanding Gateway's output.

When you call `client.judge()`, you get back a `Ruling` object containing the verdict and all supporting evidence.

## Example

```python theme={null}
ruling = client.judge(
    claim="I live in San Francisco. My cat Sally lives with me.",
    sources=[
        TextSource(id="cat-name", text="I have a cat called Sally."),
        TextSource(id="living", text="Sally and I live in a small apartment."),
    ],
)
```

## Top-level verdict

```python theme={null}
ruling.verdict  # Verdict.NOT_ENOUGH_INFO
```

The overall verdict is conservative:

* `SUPPORTS` - all statements are supported
* `REFUTES` - any statement is refuted
* `NOT_ENOUGH_INFO` - otherwise

In this example, the claim about San Francisco has no evidence, so the overall verdict is `NOT_ENOUGH_INFO`.

## Statements

Each claim is decomposed into individual statements:

```python theme={null}
for statement in ruling.statements:
    print(f"{statement.text}: {statement.verdict}")

# I live in San Francisco.: Verdict.NOT_ENOUGH_INFO
# My cat Sally lives with me.: Verdict.SUPPORTS
```

The `span` attribute maps back to the original claim:

```python theme={null}
claim = "I live in San Francisco. My cat Sally lives with me."
for statement in ruling.statements:
    original_text = claim[statement.span[0]:statement.span[1]]
    print(f"'{original_text}' -> {statement.verdict}")
```

<Note>
  `statement.text` is not necessarily identical to `claim[span[0]:span[1]]`.
  Gateway may rephrase for clarity—for example, "The sky is clear and blue"
  might yield a statement with text "The sky is blue" while the span points to
  the full original phrase.
</Note>

## Influences

Each statement's verdict is based on evidence from your sources:

```python theme={null}
for statement in ruling.statements:
    print(f"\n{statement.text}")
    for influence in statement.influences:
        print(f"  - {influence.text} (from {influence.source.id})")
```

Output:

```
I live in San Francisco.
  (no influences)

My cat Sally lives with me.
  - I have a cat called Sally. (from cat-name)
  - Sally and I live in a small apartment. (from living)
```

## Locating evidence in sources

For `TextInfluence` objects, the `span` attribute gives the exact character positions:

```python theme={null}
from gateway import TextInfluence

for statement in ruling.statements:
    for influence in statement.influences:
        if isinstance(influence, TextInfluence):
            source_text = influence.source.text
            evidence = source_text[influence.span[0]:influence.span[1]]
            print(f"Evidence: '{evidence}'")
```