BFP v. Resolution Trust Corporation, 511 U.S. 531, 24 (1994)

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554

BFP v. RESOLUTION TRUST CORPORATION

Souter, J., dissenting

dissenting) (Bankruptcy Act case), cert. denied, 454 U. S. 1164 (1982), on the theory that the "transfer" from mortgagor to mortgagee occurs, once and for all, when the security interest is first created. See generally In re Madrid, 725 F. 2d 1197 (CA9), cert. denied, 469 U. S. 833 (1984).

In 1984, however, Congress pulled the rug out from under these previously serious arguments, by amending the Code in two relevant respects. See Bankruptcy Amendments and Federal Judgeship Act of 1984, §§ 401(1), 463(a), 98 Stat. 366, 378. One amendment provided expressly that "involuntar[y]" transfers are no less within the trustee's § 548 avoidance powers than "voluntar[y]" ones, and another provided that the "foreclosure of the debtor's equity of redemption" itself is a "transfer" for purposes of bankruptcy law. See 11 U. S. C. § 101(54) (1988 ed., Supp. IV).6 Thus, whether or not one believes (as the majority seemingly does not) that fore-closure sales rightfully belong within the historic domain of "fraudulent conveyance" law, that is exactly where Congress has now put them, cf. In re Ehring, 900 F. 2d 184, 187 (CA9 1990), and our duty is to give effect to these new amendments, along with every other clause of the Bankruptcy Code. See, e. g., United States v. Nordic Village, Inc., 503 U. S. 30, 36 (1992); United Sav. Assn. of Tex. v. Timbers of Inwood Forest Associates, Ltd., 484 U. S. 365, 374-375 (1988); see also Dewsnup v. Timm, 502 U. S. 410, 426 (1992) (Scalia, J., dissenting). The Court's attempt to escape the

6 As noted at n. 1, supra, an earlier version of the Senate bill contained a provision that would have added to § 548 the conclusive presumption the Court implies here. See S. 445, 98th Cong., 1st Sess., § 360 (1983) ("A secured party or third party purchaser who obtains title to an interest of the debtor in property pursuant to a good faith prepetition foreclosure, power of sale, or other proceeding or provision of nonbankruptcy law permitting or providing for the realization of security upon default of the borrower under a mortgage, deed of trust, or other security agreement takes for reasonably equivalent value within the meaning of this section"). The provision was deleted from the legislation enacted by Congress.

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