Cite as: 516 U. S. 489 (1996)
Thomas, J., dissenting
cerned with "the financial integrity of the plan," id., at 142, n. 9, is thus reflected not only in § 409, but throughout the fiduciary provisions § 409 enforces.4
Thus, though the majority finds Russell to be irrelevant, it is all but dispositive. We analyzed in that case all of the provisions the Court today holds to be enforceable through § 502(a)(3). We considered these provisions as part of our "contextual reading" of § 409, and only when we read § 409 in conjunction with these surrounding provisions did it become "abundantly clear that [§ 409's] draftsmen were primarily concerned with the possible misuse of plan assets, and with remedies that would protect the entire plan, rather than with the rights of an individual beneficiary." Russell, supra, at 142. This is not to say that Congress did not intend to protect plan participants from fiduciary breach; it surely did. Congress chose, however, to protect individuals by creating a single remedy on behalf of the plan rather than authorizing piecemeal suits for individual relief.
Given Congress' apparent intent to allow suit for breach of fiduciary duty exclusively under §§ 409 and 502(a)(2), and given the abundant evidence of Congress' intent to authorize only relief on behalf of the plan, I would hold that individual relief for fiduciary breach is unavailable under § 502(a)(3).
4 The majority's citation of § 502(l), 29 U. S. C. § 1132(l) (1988 ed., Supp. I), in support of its interpretation of § 502(a)(3) is unpersuasive. Section 502(l) was enacted by Congress in 1989, more than a decade after ERISA was initially enacted. We have recognized that in interpreting ERISA, as with all statutes, " 'the views of a subsequent Congress form a hazardous basis for inferring the intent of an earlier one.' " Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Bruch, 489 U. S. 101, 114 (1989) (quoting United States v. Price, 361 U. S. 304, 313 (1960)). See also Mackey v. Lanier Collection Agency & Service, Inc., 486 U. S. 825, 839-840 (1988). In any event, to the extent that § 502(l) indicates Congress' understanding (in 1989) that individual relief might be available for fiduciary breach, § 502(l) confirms that Congress did not believe that § 502(a)(3) affords such relief. That is the most reasonable inference from Congress' citation of §§ 502(a)(2) and (a)(5)—and, notably, not of § 502(a)(3)—in reference to statutes purportedly authorizing amounts to be paid to plan participants and beneficiaries.
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