El-Gibaly said the constitutional assembly has turned down suggestions to free the court from the president's grip and "ensure its independence" from the country's executive and legislative powers. She said the panel ignored proposals to allow other courts, rather than the president, to select the members of the SCC as well as its chief judge.
One new article introduced by the panel would strip the SCC of the authority to rule on the constitutionality of laws after they are passed by parliament, leaving it only the power to rule on them beforehand.
"The revolution was about ensuring a democratic system, with balanced powers to protect the rights of the Egyptian citizen, but these clauses violate these rights," el-Gibaly said.
The court's chief judge, Maher el-Behiri, told reporters the court is in permanent session in protest.
Maher Sami, the court spokesman, accused Islamists on the panel of trying to "topple the Constitutional Court ... and settle scores between them and the court."
Sami appeared to be referring to the court's decision in June to disband parliament, which was dominated by lawmakers from the Muslim Brotherhood, with its ruling that the election law that oversaw parliamentary polls was unconstitutional. The Islamists responded by accusing the court of being home to Mubarak-era judges.
With so much at stake in the new constitution, the panel writing the charter has come under mounting criticism in recent weeks.
Most of the debate has centered on the wording of the role of Shariah, or Islamic law, the role of unelected religious scholars in reviewing laws, as well as the protection of the rights of women and religious minorities. Liberals and secularists have expressed concern with what they see as a growing role of conservative Islam in the charter, while ultra-conservative Islamists, known as Salafis, are pushing for the strict and full implementation of Shariah.
That ideological standoff moved to the streets on Friday, when thousands of members and supporters of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood group clashed with anti-Islamist protesters denouncing what they say are the Brotherhood's attempts to plant its members in the state institutions and produce a charter that serves the group's agenda.
The constitutional panel has pushed forward with its work, despite a slew of legal challenges to its mandate and its composition.
