Egypt's supreme court lashes out at Morsi In a stiff rebuff to Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's Islamist president, the constitutional court said on Wednesday that it would not be intimidated or succumb to pressure. "The court won't be terrorised by threats or blackmail and will not submit to any pressure on it in any direction," said Maher Samy, the court spokesman. The sharp tone marks an escalation of the crisis between Mr Morsi and the judiciary, who charge that he has overstepped his authority and breached the separation of powers that underpins democracy. The president issued a decree last week, exempting all his decisions from judicial oversight in a move that provoked huge protests on Tuesday and prompted fears of a return to dictatorship. On Tuesday night, Mohamed Refaa, a presidential aide, was quoted as saying Mr Morsi would not revoke his edict and that his supporters far outnumbered his critics. Most of the country's first stage courts have not been working after judges voted to strike. On Wednesday, the cassation and appeals courts said they too would suspend virtually all work pending a decision on the constitutionality of Mr Morsi's decree. The president and his supporters had suggested the edict was aimed at surmounting hurdles to the country's democratic transition placed by a judiciary hostile to the Islamists and still loyal to the regime of Hosni Mubarak, the ousted president. The constitutional court disbanded the Islamist-majority parliament elected earlier this year because it found the electoral law unfair. It was due to pronounce in early December on the legality of a panel, also dominated by Islamists, charged with writing the new constitution. In his edict Mr Morsi forbade the judiciary from issuing rulings disbanding the panel and the upper chamber of parliament. Mr Samy denied that the constitutional court had "conspired" with other powers - a reference to the army - to dismantle parliament. He also dismissed rumours that the court was planning to depose Mr Morsi. The president had accused the court in a speech on Friday of leaking verdicts before the formal announcement. He did not mention the court by name but said it was "strange" when people learnt of rulings before they were issued. Tens of thousands of Egyptians rallied in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Tuesday to press the president to withdraw his edict. The demonstrations, much larger than those previously organised by non-Islamist forces, have recalled the protests that brought down Mr Mubarak last year and given the secular opposition hope that it could stand up to Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group and its ultraconservative Salafi allies. Although the president has made clear that his assumption of additional powers is temporary and would end as soon as a new parliament has been elected, his political enemies have been able to capitalise on what is seen as a "power grab" to mobilise sentiment against him. On Wednesday the Muslim Brotherhood and hardline Salafi parties said they would hold protests across Egypt on Saturday in support of Mr Morsi.