Why did Egypt's authoritarian regime establish an independent constitutional court in 1979 when only twenty-five years earlier it had worked to undermine judicial power? From the standpoint of the mainstream comparative law and politics literature, the birth of the Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court presents a surprising anomaly: an entrenched regime facing no credible challengers established an autonomous court with the ability to strike down regime legislation.

The motives for judicial reform make somewhat more sense when viewed from a political-economy angle. The passages above by eighteenth-century economist Adam Smith and Nasser's Minister of Interior nicely illustrate one of the principal tradeoffs that authoritarian regimes face when they remove constraints on their power.