diff --git a/aborist/qa/query.py b/aborist/qa/query.py
index 2f7cbde..7081242 100644
--- a/aborist/qa/query.py
+++ b/aborist/qa/query.py
@@ -1835,6 +1835,10 @@ def query(
                 max_claims_per_answer=int(policy.get(
                     "claim_lattice_max_claims_per_answer", 12
                 )),
+                question=question,
+                warrant_check_enabled=bool(policy.get(
+                    "claim_lattice_warrant_check_enabled", True
+                )),
             )
             rendered = verdict["rendered_text"]
             answer_text = rendered if rendered else raw_answer
diff --git a/aborist/qa/runner.py b/aborist/qa/runner.py
index 5701f95..81b3350 100644
--- a/aborist/qa/runner.py
+++ b/aborist/qa/runner.py
@@ -652,6 +652,10 @@ def ask(
             max_claims_per_answer=int(policy.get(
                 "claim_lattice_max_claims_per_answer", 12
             )),
+            question=question,
+            warrant_check_enabled=bool(policy.get(
+                "claim_lattice_warrant_check_enabled", True
+            )),
         )
         rendered = verdict["rendered_text"]
         answer_text = rendered if rendered else raw_answer
diff --git a/aborist/qa/verify.py b/aborist/qa/verify.py
index 86195fa..f070eb5 100644
--- a/aborist/qa/verify.py
+++ b/aborist/qa/verify.py
@@ -1467,6 +1467,8 @@ def verify_claim_lattice_json(
     max_evidence_per_claim: int = DEFAULT_MAX_POINTERS_PER_CLAIM,
     min_citation_coverage: float = DEFAULT_MIN_CITATION_COVERAGE,
     max_claims_per_answer: int = DEFAULT_MAX_CLAIMS_PER_ANSWER,
+    question: str | None = None,
+    warrant_check_enabled: bool = True,
 ) -> dict:
     """Deterministic verifier for ``answer_mode="claim_lattice"`` (JSON).
 
@@ -1710,6 +1712,38 @@ def verify_claim_lattice_json(
     else:
         audit_mode = "UNGROUNDED"
 
+    # Warrant-lite — same relation-question hard check as the pointer
+    # variant. See verify_claim_lattice for the rationale (Ticket H,
+    # 2026-05-01). Identical demote-to-HYBRID semantics; the JSON
+    # variant carries the same WARRANT_MISSING violations & the same
+    # warrant_missing_claim_idxs field on the verdict.
+    warrant_missing_claims: list[int] = []
+    if warrant_check_enabled and question and is_relation_question(question):
+        for cs in claim_statuses:
+            if cs.get("status") not in ("EVIDENCE_LINKED", "EVIDENCE_LINKED_PARTIAL"):
+                continue
+            cited_eids = cs.get("evidence_ids") or []
+            cited_spans = [
+                obj.span
+                for eid in cited_eids
+                for obj in [evidence_map_by_evidence_id_local(evidence_map, eid)]
+                if obj is not None
+            ]
+            ok, missing = warrant_check(cs.get("text") or "", cited_spans)
+            if not ok:
+                warrant_missing_claims.append(cs.get("claim_idx"))
+                violations.append({
+                    "kind": "WARRANT_MISSING",
+                    "claim_idx": cs.get("claim_idx"),
+                    "missing_anchors": missing,
+                    "rationale": (
+                        "claim names answer entity not present in any "
+                        "cited span — pointer-linked but warrant missing"
+                    ),
+                })
+    if warrant_missing_claims and audit_mode == "STRICT":
+        audit_mode = "HYBRID"
+
     # Same `verifier_method` as the pointer variant ("claim_lattice")
     # so the providence_cache CHECK constraint accepts both. The mode
     # is disambiguated downstream via `answer_mode` on the run-DAG &
@@ -1725,4 +1759,5 @@ def verify_claim_lattice_json(
         "rendered_text": rendered_text,
         "evidence_id_pairs": evidence_id_pairs,
         "json_fixups": json_fixups,
+        "warrant_missing_claim_idxs": warrant_missing_claims,
     }