But they are clearly troubled by the possibility the suit could upend the decades-old system of medical residents' selection and deployment around the country.

In addition, they argue, if the court were to uphold the developers' position, the result would be to upend a decades-old regulatory system.

Both houses also passed legislation to end the state's decades-old system of setting rates for $16 billion in hospital services.

On Jan. 1, a new trade regime will end the decades-old system of country-by-country quotas that divide the world's exports among roughly 150 countries.

Until now, a decades-old system has allowed private inspectors hired by the city to issue violations with few restrictions.

State officials said the President's action would create new financial strains on the decades-old system.

But he said the White House, in its fund-raising practices, had been operating within a "decades-old" system.

The notion of throwing out a decades-old system is a powerful bureaucratic threat.

The new rules move governments beyond a decades-old system where money is put into accounts, called funds, designated for categories of spending like construction or operations.

In the meantime, current, decades-old systems must hold the line even longer.