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Downtown Chicago. (Photo via Jürgen Polle/Pixabay) CHICAGO (CN) A set of decades-old consent decrees aimed at ending patronage in Illinois government will stay in place for now, a federal appeals panel ruled Friday. The so-called Shakman decrees from 1972 and 1991 are still needed to oversee hiring practices, at least when it comes to the Cook County Clerk’s Office, according to the Seventh Circuit. However, the panel warned that the decrees had been in place for far too long. “Permitting a consent decree over an arm of state or local government (here, the Cook County Clerk) to anchor itself on a federal docket for decades is inconsistent with our federal structure,” U.S. Circuit Judge Michael Y. Scudder, a Donald Trump appointee, wrote in the panel’s opinion. ....