text: Duration: Some argue that "consent decrees often last for too long a period". Although consent decrees are a solution to a particular issue, the context around that issue or the issue itself may change. However, the consent decree is neither as easy to modify nor adapt and thus can become inadequate.
  Ambition: Consent decrees can be an avenue for those seeking to enact a future-oriented change that is more general and not case-specific. Consent decrees are thus used "as a tool of enforcement [that is] less expensive, and sometimes more far-reaching, than adjudication", especially in antitrust cases and those involving public institutions.
  Complexity: Consent decrees can be complex in questions of modification, either before or after it is enacted: "the decree issued by consent cannot be modified, except by consent. Only where the consent has been obtained by fraud or given by mistake will a bill be entertained to set it aside".
  Ambiguity: There is ambiguity in the source of power of the consent decree, the role of judges, and the guidelines for a consent decree. Some see that "neither judges, lawyers, nor parties know exactly what they give or get when a consent decree is entered ... [which may bear] testimony to the negative consequences of the ambiguity that surrounds consent decrees".
  Third parties and public interests