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The selective delegation of policymaking to judicial institutions points a broader concern of authoritarian leaders – - the maintenance of political legitimacy in lieu of credible mechanisms of public accountability. In many cases, authoritarian regimes switch to the rule of law as a legitimizing narrative only after the failure of their initial policy objectives or after popular support for the regime has faded. Egypt's second President, Gamāl 'Abd an-Nāsir (1954-1970), pinned his legitimacy on the revolutionary principles of national independence, the redistribution of wealth, economic development, and Arab nationalism. Judicial institutions were tolerated only to the extent that they facilitated the regime's achievement of these substantive goals. In contrast, the third President of Egypt, Muhammad Anwar as-Sādāt (1970-1981) explicitly pinned his regime's legitimacy to siyādat al-qānūn (rule of law) and used rule-of-law rhetoric various times throughout his eleven years of presidency (Moustafa 2008: 146; Brown 1997: 122), to distance his regime from the substantive failure of Gamāl 'Abd an-Nāsir regime and authoritarian state in crisis, and to build a new legitimating narrative that was distinct from the populist foundations of the state (Lombardi 2008: 234-273, Moustafa 2007: 6, 39).
Rule of law in the Egyptian context is, however, more than just a lip-service. The term siyādat al-qānūn has been incorporated into the Constitution: One is able to locate it in two prominent positions of the Constitution, namely in the Preamble and in Article 64 ("siyādat al-qānūn 'asās al-hukum fī ad-dawla", i.e. the State is subject to the rule of law). The latter marks, due to its prominent position in the normative part of the Constitution, a legally binding basis, whereas the preamble itself does not share the legally binding character. However, since the Preamble is considered to be a compilation of motives rather than concrete rights or obligations, it nevertheless offers guidance for the interpretation of the text of Egypt's current Constitution. Having said this, one should bear in mind that the rule-of-law concept implies and seeks the prevention of arbitrary exercise of the executive power – - still a controversial issue in Egypt, even though the country has recently went through two successive reforms of "modernization" in 2005 (Lange 2005a: 2-8) and 2007 (al-Gayār 'Islām Kamāl 2006; Al Malky 2006; Al-Ahram 2007; Al-Mashat 2009: 31-34). One of the main criticism directed at the 1971 Constitution (and its amendments in 1980) by its opponents is its extreme centralization of powers with the President of the Republic. In his request for constitutional amendments dated 26 December 2006 (Al-Ahrām 2007: 1, 2 et seqq.) the President of the Republic maintained that the amendments would consolidate the balance of powers between the branches of the government through a redistribution of the competencies within the executive authority, and increasing the powers of the parliament. He added that the independence of the judiciary would also be enhanced. (Abd al-Hafī 2005).
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Although the Supreme Constitutional Court took surprisingly bold stands on most political issues, there were important limits to the Courts activism. At odds with its strong record of rights activism, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled Egypt's emergency courts (al- mahākim at-tawāri') constitutional (cf. al-Mahkama ad-Dustūriyya al-'Ulyā 1984: 80), and it has conspicuously delayed issuing a ruling on the constitutionality of civilian transfers to military courts. The qānūn at-tawāri' (Emergency Law) allows for referrals to those exceptional courts, and the military ruler – - i.e., the President of the Republic or his designate – - can refer civilians to military courts (al-mahākim al-'askariyya). The judges in such trials are officers appointed by the Minister of Defence who have no independence but are rather subordinate to the top-down authority structure of the military establishment (Hassan 2010; Moustafa 2008: 153). However, the Supreme Constitutional reasoned e.g. that since Article 171 of the Constitution provided for the al-mahākim at-tawāri', the must be considered a legitimate and regular component of the judicial authority. Moreover, it also reasoned that the provision of Law 50/1982, giving the al-mahākim at-tawāri' the sole competency to adjudicate their own appeals and complaints, was not in conflict with Article 172 of the Constitution. Given that Egypt has remained in a perpetual state of emergency for all but six months since 1967, the al-mahākim at-tawāri', and more recently, especially after the upsurge of Islamicist violence in 1992, the al- mahākim al-'askariyya have effectively formed a parallel legal system with fewer procedural safeguards, serving as the ultimate regime check on challenges to its power (Moustafa 2008: 151 et seq.; Saleh 2004: 81; Brown 1997: 114).
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Lifting the state of emergency, which would abolish the emergency court system, as well as ending the trial of civilians before al- mahākim al-'askariyya, would be a further important step upgrading the rule of law and in balancing the imbalanced separation of power concept in Egypt (Dunne 2006: 12). A clear separation between the judiciary and the executive has still not been achieved. Both the Minister of Defence – - as mentioned above – - and the Minister of Justice continue to exercise considerable authority over the judiciary (Omar Sherif 1999: 35, 38 et seq.). If the powers of the President have decreased following the amendments, he still keeps the most important ones, be it in the executive (See Article 137, Article 148 and Article 150 of the Constitution), legislative (See Article 108, Article 109, Article 112, Article 113 of the Constitution) or even judicial fields where he is the one who nominates the general prosecutor, the presidents of the Court of Cassation and of the Supreme Constitutional Court, and is the head of the council of judicial bodies. Moreover, although the powers of the parliament have increased, it has to be seen whether the two assemblies dominated by the ruling party Hizb al-Watanī ad-Dīmuqrātī will put substantial modifications in the draft budget to table. Though they were introduced as strengthening the balance of powers (Risālat ar-Ra'īs Mubārak, 26 December 2006). the constitutional amendments have not procured major changes in the distribution of powers within the executive authority itself and between the executive and legislative ones. Nevertheless, the reform package could constitute the basis of continuative revisions in the future.
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