Hugo Black

“ Ownership of property rights before bankruptcy is one thing; priority of distribution in bankruptcy of property that has passed unencumbered into a bankrupt's estate is quite another. Property interests in a fund not owned by a bankrupt at the time of adjudication, whether complete or partial, legal or equitable, mortgages, liens, or simple priority of rights, are of course not a part of the bankrupt's property and do not vest in the trustee. The Bankruptcy Act simply does not authorize a trustee to distribute other people's property among a bankrupt's creditors. ”

“ Justice White, held that this fund materially tended to protect the surety, that its creation raised an equity in the surety's favor, that the United States was entitled to protect itself out of the fund, and that the surety, by asserting the right of subrogation, could protect itself by resort to the same securities and same remedies which had been available to the United States for its protection against the contractor. ”

“ Since the laborers and materialmen have no right against the funds, it follows as clear as rain that the surety could have none. It appears to me that today's holding that laborers and materialmen had 'rights' to funds in the Government's hands might jeopardize the rights of the United States and have serious consequences for its building operations. ”