The Stacks project

Proof. By definition of constructible subsets, we can write each $T_ i$ as a finite union of $U \cap V^ c$ with $U, V \subset X$ retrocompact open. Hence we may assume that $T_ i = U_ i \cap V_ i^ c$ with $U_ i, V_ i \subset X$ retrocompact open. Let $S$ be the finite set of closed subsets of $X$ consisting of $\emptyset , X, U_ i^ c, V_ i^ c$ and finite intersections of these. If $Z \in S$, then $Z$ is constructible in $X$ (Lemma 5.15.2). Moreover, $Z \cap Z' \in S$ for all $Z, Z' \in S$. Define a partial ordering on $S$ by inclusion. For $Z \in S$ set $X_ Z = Z \setminus \bigcup _{Z' < Z,\ Z' \in S} Z'$ to get a stratification $X = \coprod _{Z \in S} X_ Z$ satisfying the properties stated in the lemma. $\square$