548
Opinion of Stevens, J.
for disparate impact violations; compensatory damages for intentional disparate treatment; and punitive damages for intentional discrimination "with malice or with reckless indifference to the federally protected rights of an aggrieved individual." § 1981a(b)(1).
The 1991 Act's punitive damages standard, as the Court recognizes, ante, at 535-536, is quite obviously drawn from our holding in Smith v. Wade, 461 U. S. 30 (1983). There, we held that punitive damages may be awarded under 42 U. S. C. § 1983 (1976 ed., Supp. V) "when the defendant's conduct is shown to be motivated by evil motive or intent, or when it involves reckless or callous indifference to the federally protected rights of others." 461 U. S., at 56.* The 1991 Act's standard is also the same intent-based standard used in the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), 29 U. S. C. § 621 et seq. (1994 ed. and Supp. III). The ADEA provides for an award of liquidated damages— damages that are "punitive in nature," Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Thurston, 469 U. S. 111, 125 (1985)—when the employer "knew or showed reckless disregard for the matter of whether its conduct was prohibited by the statute." Hazen Paper Co. v. Biggins, 507 U. S. 604, 617 (1993); accord, Thurston, 469 U. S., at 126.
*Lest there be any doubt that Congress looked to Smith in crafting the statute, the Report of the House Judiciary Committee explains that the "standard for punitive damages is taken directly from civil rights case law," H. R. Rep. No. 102-40, pt. 2, p. 29 (1991), and proceeds to quote and cite with approval the very page in Smith that announced the punitive damages standard requiring "evil motive or intent, or . . . reckless or callous indifference to the federally protected rights of others," 461 U. S., at 56, quoted in H. R. Rep. No. 102-40, at 29. The Report of the House Education and Labor Committee echoed this sentiment. See H. R. Rep. No. 102-40, p. 74 (1991) (citing Smith with approval). Congress' substitution in the 1991 Act of the word "malice" for Smith's phrase "evil motive or intent" is inconsequential; in Smith, we noted that "malice . . . may be an appropriate" term to denote ill will or an intent to injure. See 461 U. S., at 37, n. 6.
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