352
Opinion of the Court
Circuits have held that § 803(d) caps all fees that are ordered to be paid after the enactment of the PLRA, even when those fees compensate attorneys for work performed prior to the enactment of the PLRA. Alexander S. v. Boyd, 113 F. 3d 1373, 1385-1388 (CA4 1997), cert. denied, 522 U. S. 1090 (1998); Madrid v. Gomez, 150 F. 3d 1030 (CA9 1998). See also Blissett v. Casey, 147 F. 3d 218 (CA2 1998) (PLRA does not necessarily limit fees when work performed before effective date but award rendered after effective date), cert. pending, No. 98-527; Inmates of D. C. Jail v. Jackson, 158 F. 3d 1357, 1360 (CADC 1998) (holding that PLRA limits fees for work performed after effective date of Act, and suggesting in dicta that it does not apply to work performed prior to effective date), cert. pending, No. 98-917. We granted certiorari to resolve these conflicts. 525 U. S. 1000 (1998). In this Court, the Hadix and Glover plaintiffs are respondents, and the defendant prison officials from both cases are petitioners.
II
Petitioners contend that the PLRA applies to Glover and Hadix, cases that were pending when the PLRA was enacted. This fact pattern presents a recurring question in the law: When should a new federal statute be applied to pending cases? See, e. g., Lindh v. Murphy, 521 U. S. 320 (1997); Hughes Aircraft Co. v. United States ex rel. Schumer, 520 U. S. 939 (1997). To answer this question, we ask first "whether Congress has expressly prescribed the statute's proper reach." Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U. S. 244, 280 (1994). If there is no congressional directive on the temporal reach of a statute, we determine whether the application of the statute to the conduct at issue would result in a retroactive effect. Ibid. If so, then in keeping with our "traditional presumption" against retroactivity, we presume that the statute does not apply to that conduct. Ibid. See also Hughes Aircraft Co. v. United States ex rel. Schumer, supra, at 946.
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