Cite as: 532 U. S. 598 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
Fees Awards Act of 1976, 90 Stat. 2641, 42 U. S. C. § 1988. See generally Marek v. Chesny, 473 U. S. 1, 43-51 (1985) (Appendix to opinion of Brennan, J., dissenting).4
In designating those parties eligible for an award of litigation costs, Congress employed the term "prevailing party," a legal term of art. Black's Law Dictionary 1145 (7th ed. 1999) defines "prevailing party" as "[a] party in whose favor a judgment is rendered, regardless of the amount of damages awarded <in certain cases, the court will award attorney's fees to the prevailing party>. — Also termed successful party." This view that a "prevailing party" is one who has been awarded some relief by the court can be distilled from our prior cases.5
In Hanrahan v. Hampton, 446 U. S. 754, 758 (1980) (per curiam), we reviewed the legislative history of § 1988 and found that "Congress intended to permit the interim award of counsel fees only when a party has prevailed on the merits of at least some of his claims." Our "[r]espect for ordinary language requires that a plaintiff receive at least some relief on the merits of his claim before he can be said to prevail."
4 We have interpreted these fee-shifting provisions consistently, see Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U. S. 424, 433, n. 7 (1983), and so approach the nearly identical provisions at issue here.
5 We have never had occasion to decide whether the term "prevailing party" allows an award of fees under the "catalyst theory" described above. Dictum in Hewitt v. Helms, 482 U. S. 755, 760 (1987), alluded to the possibility of attorney's fees where "voluntary action by the defendant . . . affords the plaintiff all or some of the relief . . . sought," but we expressly reserved the question, see id., at 763 ("We need not decide the circumstances, if any, under which this 'catalyst' theory could justify a fee award"). And though the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit relied upon our decision in Farrar v. Hobby, 506 U. S. 103 (1992), in rejecting the "catalyst theory," Farrar "involved no catalytic effect." Friends of Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc., 528 U. S. 167, 194 (2000). Thus, there is language in our cases supporting both petitioners and respondents, and last Term we observed that it was an open question here. See ibid.
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