John McLean

“ If, therefore, a State law should enact that a judgment should be no evidence of debt, or should abolish all writs of execution, such a law would not be applicable to the proceedings of the federal courts, because, in the first instance, it would take away the proper intrinsic effect of the judgment itself, and make it, in whole or in part, no judgment; and, in the other instance, it would take from the United States courts a necessary part of the organization of a court, namely, the power to carry into effect its own judgments. ”

“ To this we answer, that if the lien of a judgment is a regulation of property, and not a 'process' or 'mode of proceeding,' then this rule of court can have no effect whatever. It was beyond the power of the court.
Whether or not Congress itself has the power to say what shall or shall not constitute a lien on property within a State, it is not necessary now to inquire, because we say that Congress has not attempted to do it, nor has it authorized the courts to attempt it. ”

“ It is there said that 'final process' means all the writs of execution then in use, and 'modes of proceeding' are the exercise of all the duties of the ministerial officers of the States prescribed by the laws of the States for the purpose of obtaining the fruits of judgments. See also United States Bank v. Halstead, 10 Wheat. 61, 63.
Now a lien is certainly not a writ or precept of any kind. It is no part of the action of the court in a suit, nor is it the exercise of a ministerial duty of an officer of the court, nor even the result of any such exercise of duty. ”