262
Opinion of the Court
" 'We begin with the ordinary meaning of the words Congress employed. The term "money damages," 5 U. S. C. § 702, we think, normally refers to a sum of money used as compensatory relief. Damages are given to the plaintiff to substitute for a suffered loss, whereas specific remedies "are not substitute remedies at all, but attempt to give the plaintiff the very thing to which he was entitled." ' " 487 U. S., at 895 (quoting Maryland Dept. of Human Resources v. Department of Health and Human Services, 763 F. 2d 1441, 1446 (CADC 1985) (citation omitted)).
Bowen also concluded from its analysis of relevant legislative history that "the drafters had in mind the time-honored distinction between damages and specific relief." 487 U. S., at 897. Bowen's interpretation of § 702 thus hinged on the distinction between specific relief and substitute relief, not between equitable and nonequitable categories of remedies.
We accordingly applied this interpretation of § 702 to the State's suit to overturn a decision by the Secretary disallowing reimbursement under the Medicaid Act. We held that the State's suit was not one "seeking money in compensation for the damage sustained by the failure of the Federal Government to pay as mandated; rather, it [was] a suit seeking to enforce the statutory mandate itself, which happens to be one for the payment of money." Id., at 900. The Court therefore concluded that the substance of the State's suit was one for specific relief, not money damages, and hence the suit fell within § 702's waiver of immunity.
It is clear from Bowen that the equitable nature of the lien sought by respondent here does not mean that its ultimate claim was not one for "money damages" within the meaning of § 702. Liens, whether equitable or legal, are merely a means to the end of satisfying a claim for the recovery of money. Indeed, equitable liens by their nature constitute substitute or compensatory relief rather than specific relief. An equitable lien does not "give the plaintiff the very thing
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