Morsi convenes Egypt's parliament in defiance of court and military Parliament Speaker Mohamed Katani, who also belongs to the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, called for the session on Monday. The only item on the agenda was studying last month's Supreme Constitutional Court ruling that found that one third of lawmakers had been elected unlawfully. The ruling prompted the then-ruling military generals to disband parliament and call for new elections. Katani asked parliament's Committee on Constitutional and Legislative Affairs to study the ruling and offer suggestions about how to "implement the court's decision," according to a statement released by the Freedom and Justice party. After fears that the announced noon return could provoke a confrontation with security forces on the steps of parliament, the arrival of lawmakers was relatively peaceful - perhaps because they showed up early. "They came in their cars before 11, and police let them pass, no problem," said Ammr Mustafa, who was among the 200 or so Brotherhood supporters chanting and waving Egyptian flags at the building's gate. A small contingent of police allowed cars in and out after the half-hour session concluded. Mo'men Za'rour, an Freedom and Justice party member of parliament from the Nile Delta region, said the brief meeting served notice that Egypt's new political leaders would not be intimidated. "We had to hold a session today, and we will hold more sessions next week," said Za'rour after rising from midday prayers with several dozen protesters on the sidewalk outside the parliament gates. This is the first democratically elected parliament that Egypt has had in its history. Za'rour said lawmakers in the session affirmed their respect for the Constitutional Court, and even the ruling that declared one-third of parliamentarians were elected illegally. But they rejected the military council's subsequent decision to dissolve the entire parliament. "We salute the court, we honor its ruling," he said. But the Army cannot remove every member of parliament. We are appealing that now. The Brotherhood called for a mass demonstration Tuesday afternoon to boost Morsi's bargaining power over the validity of the decree he issued Sunday. The decree said the disbanded parliament ought to reconvene at once and remain active until a new vote can be held. The decision appears to have caught the country's powerful generals and jurists off guard. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces issued a rare statement on Monday warning that the court's ruling had to be respected. The court also issued a statement saying its decision was "binding" and final. The showdown threatens to cast a pall on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's visit to Cairo on Saturday. Clinton is traveling to Egypt to meet with Morsi and a "broad cross section of civil society leaders" in an effort to restart Washington's relationship with the Arab world's most populous nation after a turbulent period of military rule. Speaking in Vietnam on Tuesday, Clinton urged an "intensive dialogue" between Morsi and the military to avoid derailing progress toward a democratic transition in Egypt. "We strongly urge dialogue and a concerted effort on the part of all to deal with the problems that are understandable but have to be resolved," Clinton said during a short news conference. Clinton said the United States remains committed to working with Egypt in its democratic transition and "in particular, dealing with a lot of the difficult economic and security issues that the new government will face." Steve Hendrix in Cairo and Stephanie McCrummen in Hanoi, Vietnam contributed to this report.