Cite as: 532 U. S. 598 (2001)
Ginsburg, J., dissenting
not become a "prevailing party" without "an enforceable judgment, consent decree, or settlement." S-1 and S-2 v. State Bd. of Ed. of N. C., 21 F. 3d 49, 51 (1994). As the Court today acknowledges, see ante, at 603, n. 5, and as we have previously observed, the language on which the Fourth Circuit relied was dictum: Farrar "involved no catalytic effect"; the issue plainly "was not presented for this Court's decision in Farrar." Friends of Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc., 528 U. S. 167, 194 (2000).
After the Fourth Circuit's en banc ruling, nine Courts of Appeals reaffirmed their own consistently held interpretation of the term "prevail." 5 On this predominant view, "[s]ecuring an enforceable decree or agreement may evidence prevailing party status, but the judgment or agreement simply embodies and enforces what is sought in bringing the lawsuit . . . . Victory can be achieved well short of a final judgment (or its equivalent) . . . . " Marbley v. Bane, 57 F. 3d 224, 234 (CA2 1995) (Jacobs, J.).
The array of federal-court decisions applying the catalyst rule suggested three conditions necessary to a party's qualification as "prevailing" short of a favorable final judgment or consent decree. A plaintiff first had to show that the defendant provided "some of the benefit sought" by the lawsuit. Wheeler v. Towanda Area School Dist., 950 F. 2d 128, 131 (CA3 1991). Under most Circuits' precedents, a plaintiff had to demonstrate as well that the suit stated a genuine claim, i. e., one that was at least "colorable," not "frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless." Grano, 783 F. 2d, at 1110 (internal
5 Stanton v. Southern Berkshire Regional School Dist., 197 F. 3d 574, 577, n. 2 (CA1 1999); Marbley v. Bane, 57 F. 3d 224, 234 (CA2 1995); Baumgartner v. Harrisburg Housing Auth., 21 F. 3d 541, 546-550 (CA3 1994); Payne v. Board of Ed., 88 F. 3d 392, 397 (CA6 1996); Zinn v. Shalala, 35 F. 3d 273, 276 (CA7 1994); Little Rock School Dist. v. Pulaski Cty. School Dist., #1, 17 F. 3d 260, 263, n. 2 (CA8 1994); Kilgour v. Pasadena, 53 F. 3d 1007, 1010 (CA9 1995); Beard v. Teska, 31 F. 3d 942, 951-952 (CA10 1994); Morris v. West Palm Beach, 194 F. 3d 1203, 1207 (CA11 1999).
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