Editing Consent decree (section)

===Federal Rules of Civil and Criminal Procedure===
The [[Federal Rules of Civil Procedure]] and the [[Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure]], which both went into effect in 1938,<ref name="resnik2015" /> lay many of the legal foundations that govern the use of consent decrees.<ref name=":3">{{cite journal |last=Tobias |first=Carl |date=January 1, 1989 |title=Public Law Litigation and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure |url= http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3405&context=clr |journal=Cornell Law Review |volume=74 |issue=2 |pages=270 |issn=0010-8847 }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{cite journal |last=Chayes |first=Abram |title=The Role of the Judge in Public Law Litigation |journal=Harvard Law Review |volume=89 |issue=7 |pages=1281–1316 |doi=10.2307/1340256 |jstor=1340256 |year=1976}}</ref> Creating space for courts, which are important actors in implementing a consent decree, to enter into a settlement, [[Federal Rules of Civil Procedure#Title IV – Parties|Rule 23]]<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_23 |title=Rule 23. Class Actions |website=Federal Rules of Civil Procedure |publisher=Legal Information Institute}}</ref> of the [[Federal Rules of Civil Procedure]] gives [[Federal District Court|federal district courts]] the power to approve [[class action]] settlements as long as they are "fair, reasonable, and adequate".<ref name="resnik2015" /><ref name=west /><ref name=":3" /> Rule 54(b) defines ''judgment'', which refers to consent decree, and allows the court to "direct entry of a final judgment" when multiple parties are involved,<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_54 |title=Rule 54: Judgement; Costs |website=Federal Rules of Civil Procedure |publisher=Legal Information Institute}}</ref> and Rule 58 describes the procedure of how parties may enter judgment.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_58#rule_58 |title=Rule 58: Entering Judgement |website=Federal Rules of Civil Procedure |date=November 30, 2011 |publisher=Legal Information Institute}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{cite journal |last=Zitko |first=Robert R. |date=1994 |title=The Appealability of Conditional Consent Judgments |journal=University of Illinois Law Review |volume=1994 |pages=241 }}</ref> Additionally, Rule 60 describes conditions under which parties can be granted "relief from a judgment or order" (such as a consent decree).<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_58#rule_60 |title=Rule 60: Relief from a Judgement or Order |website=Federal Rules of Civil Procedure |date=November 30, 2011 |publisher=Legal Information Institute}}</ref>{{sfn|Tobias|1989|p=320}} As Rule 48 in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure stipulates that dismissals in criminal cases may not occur without "leave of court",<ref name="resnik2015" /><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_58#rule_48 |title=Rule 48: Dismissal |website=Federal Rules of Civil Procedure |date=November 30, 2011 |publisher=Legal Information Institute}}</ref> Rule 41 allows, if all the parties agree, the court to dismiss any suit besides [[Class action|class action suits]], [[Derivative suit|shareholder derivative suits]], or bankruptcy action.<ref name=mengler1987 /><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_41 |title=Rule 41: Dismissal of Actions |website=Federal Rules of Civil Procedure |publisher=Legal Information Institute}}</ref> Many of these rules create the space for consent decree by establishing the role of judges within the settlement of two parties.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{cite journal |last=Resnik |first=Judith |date=1989 |title=The Domain of Courts |url= http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1929&context=fss_papers |journal=University of Pennsylvania Law Review |volume=137 |issue=6 |pages=2219–2230 |doi=10.2307/3312214 |issn=0041-9907 |jstor=3312214 |s2cid=56043703 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>