356
Opinion of the Court
came § 803 of the PLRA, a section without language making it applicable to pending cases. Thus, according to respondents, when Congress moved the fees provisions out of § 802, with its explicitly retroactive language, it demonstrated its intent to apply the fees provisions prospectively only. Brief for Respondents 15-18.
Respondents' "negative inference" argument is based on an analogy to our decision in Lindh v. Murphy, 521 U. S. 320 (1997). In Lindh, we considered whether chapter 153 of the newly enacted Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), 110 Stat. 1214, was applicable to pending cases. In concluding that chapter 153 does not apply to such cases, we relied heavily on the observation that chapter 154 of AEDPA includes explicit language making that chapter applicable to pending cases. We concluded that "[n]othing . . . but a different intent explains the different treatment." 521 U. S., at 329. This argument carried special weight because both chapters addressed similar issues: Chapter 153 established new standards for review of habeas corpus applications by state prisoners, and chapter 154 created new standards for review of habeas corpus applications by state prisoners under capital sentences. Because both chapters "govern[ed] standards affecting entitlement to relief" in habeas cases, "[i]f . . . Congress was reasonably concerned to ensure that chapter 154 be applied to pending cases, it should have been just as concerned about chapter 153." Ibid.
Because §§ 802 and 803 address wholly distinct subject matters, the same negative inference does not arise from the silence of § 803. Section 802 addresses "[a]ppropriate remedies" in prison litigation, prohibiting, for example, prospective relief unless it is "narrowly drawn" and is "the least intrusive means necessary to correct the violation." § 802(a), 18 U. S. C. § 3626(a)(1)(A) (1994 ed., Supp. III). That section also creates new standards designed to encourage the prompt termination of prospective relief or-
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