458
Thomas, J., dissenting
was "nothing more to be done" by the Bank "to have a choate lien" on any real property the McDermotts might acquire. New Britain, supra, at 84. See Vermont, supra, at 355.1
The Court brushes aside the relevance of our Vermont opinion with the simple observation that that case did not involve a lien in after-acquired property. Ante, at 450-451. This is a wooden distinction. In truth, the Government's "specificity" claim rejected in Vermont is analytically indistinguishable from the "attachment" argument the Court accepts today. Vermont's general lien applied to all of the debtor's rights in property, with no limitation on when those rights were acquired, and remained valid until the debt was satisfied or became unenforceable. See 377 U. S., at 352. The United States claimed that its later-filed tax lien took priority over Vermont's as to the debtor's interest in a particular bank account, because the State had not taken "steps to perfect its lien by attaching the bank account in question" until after the federal lien had been recorded. Brief for United States in United States v. Vermont, O. T. 1963, No. 509, p. 12. "Thus," the Government asserted, "when the federal lien arose, the State lien did not meet one
1 The Department of Treasury regulations defining "judgment lien creditor" for purposes of § 6323(a) set forth only three specific requirements for a choate lien (corresponding to the three "establish[ment]" criteria of New Britain). The judgment creditor must "obtai[n] a valid judgment" (thus establishing the lienor) for the recovery of "specifically designated property or for a certain sum of money" (thus establishing the amount of the lien), and if recording or docketing is "necessary under local law" for the lien to be effective against third parties, the judgment lien "is not perfected with respect to real property until the time of such recordation or docketing." 26 CFR § 301.6323(h)-1(g) (1992). The last requirement— recording or docketing—is the only specific requirement recognized in the regulations for establishing the real property subject to the judgment lien. The regulations in no way suggest that § 6323(a) imposes any "attachment" condition for after-acquired property. Such a condition would be, in effect, an additional recordation requirement that is not otherwise imposed by local law.
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