 The Judiciary Act of 1789 authorized the Supreme Court to hear writs of error from the circuit courts and writs of error from the highest state courts in cases that involved the validity or construction of federal law . Either a judge of the lower court or a justice of the Supreme Court would have to sign the writ of error ( which was drafted and signed by counsel ) before the Supreme Court could hear the case . Signing the writ of error was not a mere formality , but rather a preliminary assessment of the merits of the arguments in the writ . 
