Cite as: 532 U. S. 598 (2001)
Scalia, J., concurring
III
The dissent points out that the catalyst theory has been accepted by "the clear majority of Federal Circuits," ibid. But our disagreeing with a "clear majority" of the Circuits is not at all a rare phenomenon. Indeed, our opinions sometimes contradict the unanimous and longstanding interpretation of lower federal courts. See, e. g., McNally v. United States, 483 U. S. 350, 365 (1987) (Stevens, J., dissenting) (the Court's decision contradicted "[e]very court to consider" the question).
The dissent's insistence that we defer to the "clear majority" of Circuit opinion is particularly peculiar in the present case, since that majority has been nurtured and preserved by our own misleading dicta (to which I, unfortunately, contributed). Most of the Court of Appeals cases cited by the dissent, post, at 627, and n. 5, as reaffirming the catalyst theory after our decision in Farrar v. Hobby, 506 U. S. 103 (1992), relied on our earlier opinion in Hewitt. See Marbley v. Bane, 57 F. 3d 224, 234 (CA2 1995) (relying on Hewitt to support catalyst theory); Payne v. Board of Ed., 88 F. 3d 392, 397 (CA6 1996) (same); Baumgartner v. Harrisburg Housing Auth., 21 F. 3d 541, 548 (CA3 1994) (explicitly rejecting Farrar in favor of Hewitt); Zinn v. Shalala, 35 F. 3d 273, 274-276 (CA7 1994) (same); Beard v. Teska, 31 F. 3d 942, 950-952 (CA10 1994) (same); Morris v. West Palm Beach, 194 F. 3d 1203, 1207 (CA11 1999) (same). Deferring to our colleagues' own error is bad enough; but enshrining the error that we ourselves have improvidently suggested and blaming it on the near-unanimous judgment of our colleagues would surely be unworthy.5 Informing the Courts of Ap-5 That a few cases adopting the catalyst theory predate Hewitt v. Helms, 482 U. S. 755 (1987), see post, at 625-626, and n. 4, is irrelevant to my point. Absent our dicta in Hewitt, and in light of everything else we have said on this topic, see ante, at 603-604, it is unlikely that the catalyst theory would have achieved that universality of acceptance by the Courts of Appeals upon which the dissent relies.
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