Supreme Constitutional C Court: First Coptic head

2n 9 February 2022, Justice Boulos Fahmy was sworn in before President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi as President of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC).

Justice Fahmy, 65, is the first Copt ever to head Egypt’s highest judicial body. He was appointed by President Sisi who, according to the law, picks the SCC President from among the five most senior sitting judges of the court. The new SCC President will serve a four-year term, replacing his predecessor Justice Said Marei who retired because of poor health. He died on 16 February 2022.

Justice Fahmy served as the vice president of the SCC in 2010 and then as president of the Cairo Appeal Court until he was reappointed as the vice president of the SCC in 2014. He is the 19th head of the SCC since its establishment in 1969 as the autonomous and independent judicial authority in charge of ensuring that laws and regulations are in line with the constitution.

Egyptian rights activists hailed the move; Moushira Khattab, head of the National Council for Human Rights, described the appointment of Justice Fahmy as “historic” and “a giant move” in the field of political and civil rights.