Courts in the United States wield enormous power over other American institutions. In recent years, federal judges have used this power to decree, often with the consent of the parties, extensive structural reform in such diverse areas as employment practices, prison conditions, environmental cleanup, and the treatment of mentally ill or retarded persons. These court orders often affect the daily lives of ordinary citizens, provoking heated debate and passionate rhetoric within the community, ranging from claims that federal courts carry the moral mandate of the Almighty to angry cries that unelected federal judges are ruining local institutions. Critics and advocates of such consent decrees agree, however, on one point: Judges are powerful.