Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court says it will examine the legitimacy of the upper house of parliament (Shura Council), days after the country’s new constitution was signed into law.

The court announced its decision on Sunday and set 15th of January 2013 as the date for the first hearing.

The North African nation’s highest court had dissolved the lower house in June.

Cairo will go without a legislature until new parliamentary elections are held in case the court rules against the legitimacy of the upper house, which has recently assumed full legislative powers for the first time in 32 years.


On December 26, the Egyptian parliament’s Shura Council convened and saw the 90 new members, appointed by President Mohamed Morsi on December 22, taking constitutional oath.

The Upper House of Egypt’s parliament is also expected to draft a law that regulates upcoming parliamentary elections.

Observers say the examination of the upper house’s legitimacy may add to the uncertainty of political transition in the African country.

Morsi had earlier protected the upper house against legal challenges when he issued a controversial decree on November 22 that gave him sweeping powers.

The decree declared that no judicial body could dissolve the Constituent Assembly, which was writing a draft of the constitution.

The decree also allowed the president to take "any decision or measure to protect the revolution." It made decisions and laws drafted by the president "final and not subject to appeal."

Morsi later rescinded the decree prior to holding a two-staged referendum on the constitutional draft. The vote saw the draft approved with almost 64 percent of the ballots on December 25.

The draft reduced the number of judges who sit on the Supreme Constitutional Court to 11 from 18.