The Supreme Administrative Court allowed yesterday a lawsuit to go forward that challenges the constitutionality of the recently amended Judicial Authorities Act, which they claim gives the executive branch power over judicial appointments that blurs the separation of the executive and judicial arms of government. The suit was filed by lower court judges, Al Shorouk reports. The court’s decision is in line with a report from the State Commissioners Authority alleging that the act infringes on the constitutionally guaranteed independence of the judicial branch of government. Two judges with the Council of State (Maglis El Dawla) and State Lawsuits Authority, Yehia El Dakroury and Mohamed Mady, had filed formal appeals against presidential decrees that they claimed bypassed them as nominees to become the new heads of their respective judicial bodies. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi had appointed Hussein Abdo Hamza as Chairman of the State Lawsuits Authority and Ahmed Aboul Azm as head of the Council of State earlier this year. The Council of State had presented El Dakroury as its sole nominee for the post in protest of the Judicial Authorities Act, which requires the courts to submit three nominees for the president to consider.

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