Tom C. Clark

“ Equitable Life's remaining contentions are also untenable. It argues that, since the United States concedes the priority of the mortgages here, the attorney's fee is likewise superior, for it must stand on no less equal footing as principal and interest under a mortgage-neither of which is ascertainable until foreclosure. ”

“ We cannot agree. Security did not involve a federal tax lien but raised 'federal questions peculiar to the law of bankruptcy.' 278 U.S., at 154, 49 S.Ct. at 86. Our opinion in Pioneer American specifically pointed out that Security had no application to federal tax lien cased because the issue there was the status of an attorney's fee clause in a bankruptcy proceeding 'where the rigorous federal lien choateness test was not necessarily applicable.' 374 U.S., at 90, n. ”

“ Nor does the fact that New Jersey's statutory scheme taxes the attorney's fee as costs in the foreclosure proceeding affect the standing of a competing federal lien. To repeat, the relative priority of a United States lien for unpaid taxes is a federal question. ”