Morsi and MPs defy Egypt's judges and military

Egypt's Islamist-dominated parliament and its newly elected president are on a collision course with the ruling military and the country's most senior judges.

An Egyptian military officer salutes president Mohammed Morsi, third from right, at a military graduation ceremony in Cairo. Morsi is now on a collision course with the Egyptian military after orderinShow more

CAIRO // Egypt's Islamist-dominated parliament and its newly elected president were on a collision course yesterday with the ruling military and the country's most senior judges.

Hours after Mohammed Morsi ordered the assembly to reconvene despite its dissolution by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf), the speaker, Saad Katatny, announced parliament would meet today.

Egypt's highest legal body, the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) - whose ruling that parliament had been elected unconstitutionally led to Scaf's dissolving it - responded with a rare public declaration that its "decisions and rulings are final".

This confrontational tone is likely to dominate the next year. "It's surprising how soon this has happened, but a conflict between the military and Muslim Brotherhood has been expected for a while," said Eric Trager, a fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who is in Cairo. "Political confrontation will be a feature for the foreseeable future."

The Sunday night decree by Mr Morsi, a long-time Muslim Brotherhood member who was inaugurated as president on June 30 after winning just over half the votes, would reconvene the Islamist-dominated parliament just two weeks after it was dissolved by Scaf.

While the original SCC ruling was itself controversial, the military's use of the judgment to conduct an 11th-hour power grab led many commentators and politicians to describe it as a "soft coup".

Just minutes after presidential elections finished, but before a winner was declared, the generals announced a new document that curtailed some of the powers of the presidency, appointed themselvers the legislative branch of the government and took control over a committee that will rewrite the constitution.

Yesterday, the military council said its move to dissolve parliament was only to obey a court ruling and that it will always support the will of the Egyptian people. A statement by the military council also said that it “was confident all institutions of state will respect constitutional decrees” and affirmed “the importance of the sovereignty of law and the constitution” to protect the state.

Mr Morsi's decree has complicated an already confusing legal situation. The decree was carefully worded to avoid negating the SCC ruling, confirming that new elections would be held 60 days after a new constitution is written this year. But by completely reversing Scaf's decision - made when the generals were in control of the executive branch of the government - it was unclear whether his decision represented a deft exploitation of a loophole or a clumsy move that could be overturned in the courts.

In addition, there is not a single document for the courts to use as a precedent. They must base their decisions on a combination of the 1971 constitution, a constitutional declaration issued after the uprising last year and a set of amendments to that declaration issued last month.

Mukhtar Ashri, chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party's legal committee, wrote yesterday that Mr Morsi's decision "sides with popular will, and certainly does not challenge the rule of the law".

He said the SCC ruling was about "actions that would come in the future to reform parliament laws" and that the presidential decree was not overturning that decision.

Analysts said yesterday there were grounds to contest Mr Morsi's decision in Egypt's administrative court and that it served to undermine the independence of the judiciary.

"I think this is a possible train wreck," said Nathan Brown, a professor at Georgetown University in Washington and expert on Egyptian constitutional law.

"The judiciary will probably circle the wagons and refuse to enforce any parliamentary law. The Scaf will claim legislative authority but its laws will be under a cloud. How will you even write a new election law in such a context? Or pass a law on the referendum for the constitution?"

While Mr Morsi's move was bold, it was by no means definitive. Several other lawsuits with political ramifications in progress could upend his hold on the presidency. One lawsuit filed by an independent lawyer could lead to the Muslim Brotherhood itself being ordered to freeze its activities because it did not properly register as an NGO. If the group is declared illegal, its political arm - the Freedom and Justice Party - could be declared illegal and take Mr Morsi down with it.

Same Seif Al Yazal. a retired general who works as a consultant to Scaf, described the struggle between the military and the president as something akin to a Cold War, waged through lawsuits rather than outright conflict.

State television yesterday showed Hussein Tantawi, the head of Scaf, sitting beside Mr Morsi at a ceremony for graduates of the Military Technical College in Cairo. The two were shown in a brief discussion, but there was no sign of animosity.

"The military was not surprised by this because Mr Morsi has said several times that this was his intention," Mr Al Yazal said. "To be honest, I expected this confrontation, but I didn't expect it this early. What we are going to see won't be a face-to-face clash. It will be in the courts."

He said Scaf had hired legal advisers, including those with a constitutional background, to use the power of the courts to stop the president from overturning Scaf's decisions.

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