Rights
A 2014 constitution with a Supreme Constitutional Court that does strike laws down
The 2014 constitution, amended in 2019 to extend presidential terms, establishes a semi-presidential republic. The Supreme Constitutional Court has a genuine record of invalidating legislation, including election laws that dissolved parliament.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Unitary republic. The Supreme Constitutional Court holds exclusive jurisdiction over constitutionality; ordinary courts must refer questions to it.
Governing law
- Constitution of Egypt 2014as amended 2019
- Law 48/1979 on the Supreme Constitutional Court
- Article 2 — Islam is the state religion and the principles of sharia are the principal source of legislation
In practice
Article 2's designation of sharia principles as the principal source of legislation is interpreted by the Supreme Constitutional Court as binding on the legislature but as referring to settled, unambiguous rules rather than to any particular school's detailed holdings, which gives the legislature substantial room. The Court's authority is not theoretical: its 2012 ruling on the parliamentary election law dissolved the elected chamber. The 2019 amendments extended presidential terms and enlarged military jurisdiction, and they were passed by referendum rather than by judicial process. The State Council (Conseil d'Etat) hears administrative claims in a separate hierarchy, which matters because a great deal of practical rights litigation against the state runs there rather than through the ordinary civil courts.