Adly Mansour

Adly Mahmoud Mansour [aka Adli Mansour] was born in Cairo in 1945 and subsequently studied law at Cairo University, graduating in 1967. He took a scholarship to study management and public affairs at the prestigious Ecole Nationale de l'Administration in Paris, graduating in 1977. Afterward, he returned to Cairo where began his rise in Egypt's judicial system. Mansour began working as a lawyer for the Egyptian government in 1970, working in the legal departments of numerous councils and ministries before being appointed Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Constitutional Court in 1992.

After President Hosni Mubarak was deposed in 2011, a brief period of interim government followed under the rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). Subsequent parliamentary elections led to the domination of the Muslim Brotherhood in government by early 2012. The Supreme Constitutional Court, whose membership, including Deputy Chairman Mansour, was known to hold significant ties to the previous regime of Hosni Mubarak, continually found itself at odds with the new political majority. The lower house that was elected at the end of 2011 was dissolved in mid-2012 after the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the election of one third of its seats had been invalid because they should have been reserved for independents without overt party affiliation. An attempt to hold election of the House of Representatives (the lower house) between April and June 2012 was blocked after the Supreme Constitutional Court found fault with the revised electoral legislation. After finally holding elections, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) continued to be the dominant political force in the parliament and in December 2012, the new government, led by President Mohammed Morsi, drafted and passed a new constitution. On 2 June 2013, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that FJP dominated parliament and the group of lawmakers who had written the new constitution had not been legally elected, but it ruled the body would stay seated until new elections were held. This effectively set up the stage for a significant political crisis, with opposition political parties demanding President Morsi resign and call new elections. This was followed by massive public protests against President Morsi's government.

Judge Mansour was then appointed head of the Supreme Constitutional Court on 1 July 2013. President Mohamed had appointed appointed Mansour on 19 May 2013 to replace Maher El-Beheiry, who's term of service was to end on 30 June 2013. According to Supreme Constitutional Court law 48, which had been amended in 2011, "The head of the court must be appointed by the president, who chooses from among the court’s three oldest vice-presidents. His decision must be approved by the court’s general assembly." Prior to the amendment in 2011, Egypt's president could appoint the head of the court from outside the Supreme Constitutional Court and without the general assembly’s approval.

On 3 July 2013, the Egyptian military ousted President Mohamed Morsi and announced that the head of the country's Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour, would be appointed head of an interim government to oversee the affairs of the country and the amending of the constitution. Mansour was to be interim president until such time as the new constitution was approved and new elections could be held. On 4 July 2013, Adli Mansour was officially sworn in as the country's interim leader.

On 8 July 2013, interim President Adly Mansour outlined his transition plan for Egypt, which notably required the establishment within 15 days of a panel to amend the constitution drafted under former President Mohamed Morsi. After the panel had drafted its changes, they would be put to a referendum, expected to be organized within 4 months. This would then clear the way for new parliamentary elections, which at the time it was hoped would be held by early 2014. After a new parliament was elected, an election for a new president could be held. The Muslim Brotherhood immediately rejected the plans, continue to call for President Morsi's reinstatement.