Editorial: The Crisis in Egypt

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If true — and the details were not entirely clear — Mr. Morsi's shift would be a pragmatic face-saving measure. The real test is whether it can satisfy his critics, who have filled the streets in protest. They have grown tired of the constant turmoil, economic collapse and decline in government services since Hosni Mubarak was ousted, and they remain distrustful of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party that sponsored Mr. Morsi.

Mr. Morsi's ill-advised decree reinforced suspicions that he is more like the autocrat he replaced than the democrat many Egyptians long for, and has only exacerbated the country's divisions.

The decree issued on Thursday, just as Mr. Morsi was being applauded for helping negotiate the Gaza cease-fire, was stunning in its breadth. It took several steps that could have popular appeal, like removing an unpopular Mubarak-era prosecutor general and paving the way for the retrial of Mr. Mubarak and other officials. But, at its core, it would exempt all of Mr. Morsi's actions from review by the courts and establish what 23 Egyptian human rights groups in a statement called a "new dictatorship."

Mr. Morsi and government officials said he needed the new powers to protect the process of writing the country's Constitution and insisted the decree would last only until the Constitution took effect. The claim that the measure was temporary offered no reassurance because Mr. Mubarak's emergency law remained on the books for 30 years.

But the other concern is not so easily dismissed. Several months ago, the Mubarak-appointed courts dissolved the democratically elected, Islamist-led lower house of Parliament and the first constitution-drafting committee. There were rumors that the courts were about to dissolve the elected constitutional assembly and the upper house of Parliament. If that had happened, the popular will would have been stymied again and it would have been impossible to build the state institutions needed to carry Egypt forward.

Nevertheless, even Mr. Morsi's allies couldn't buy the argument that he should sideline the courts in this way. His justice minister argued publicly for him to back down and three other senior advisers resigned. On Monday, the White House urged Egyptians to resolve their differences peacefully, while the State Department advocated a constitutional process that "does not overly concentrate power in one set of hands."

Mr. Morsi deserves some credit for the Gaza deal, but the United States should not hesitate to speak out when he tramples on democratic principles at home. As the president of an aspiring democracy, Mr. Morsi is trying to balance competing forces, including hard-liners in his own party, Mubarak regime holdovers and secular and liberal opposition activists.

He needs to make space in the constitutional assembly for more of his opponents and work to negotiate political solutions on behalf of all Egyptians. His dictatorial edict has set back that cause.

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