CAIRO – Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and his allies refused to back down on their call to reinstate the disbanded Islamist-dominated Parliament on Monday, ignoring a veiled threat from the military and a rebuke from the country’s highest court and ordering lawmakers to take their seats today at noon.

The deadline marked the second day of escalating tensions in the standoff between the newly elected Morsi, a member of the long-banned Muslim Brotherhood, and the vestiges of the former Mubarak regime, which still control Egypt’s military and judiciary.

Additional Photos

Workers clean the Egyptian parliament in Cairo on Monday. The president has called lawmakers into session today. The Associated Press

“It’s quiet for now, but wait until tomorrow,” said a kiosk vendor outside the still-quiet Parliament Building on the evening before the expected showdown.

No extra troops were in evidence around the facility, and the streets were quiet. Police in regular uniforms manned the gates and sat in groups on surrounding sidewalks.

A week into his term, Morsi has quickly brought to a head the central dispute between the factions, the abrupt dismissal of the first post-revolution parliament by the then-ruling military council and the Supreme Constitutional Court.

As Egypt struggles to find its footing as the Arab world’s newest democracy, Morsi’s aggressive opening moves make it more likely that public confrontations between the sides will follow. The confrontation emerges just days before an expected weekend visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In Tahrir Square, the center of last year’s historic popular uprising, Morsi supporters on Monday waved signs cheering Morsi’s actions. And some Brotherhood members called for a mass march to the support the lawmaker’ return to parliament.

There was a modicum of ceremonial civility Monday, when Morsi appeared at a military graduation ceremony as the guest of Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, leader of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. The two watched the marching cadets with a few exchanged words and laughs.

But outside the gates, both sides dug in on the standoff that began with Morsi’s decree Sunday annulling the Constitutional Court’s ruling and ordering Parliament’s return.

The court responded Monday with a warning that its June 14 ruling against the legislature was “final and binding,” according to state television reports. Additionally, the court’s head, Maher el-Beheiry, told Reuters that the court would immediately begin reviewing Morsi’s attempt to reinstate parliament.

The military council went into a closed emergency session Sunday. On Monday, it issued a statement read on state television warning Morsi to adhere to the court’s ruling.

In the meantime, other participants in Egypt’s fractured political scene warily staked out positions on what could be the next defining dispute in the country’s struggles to emerge from decades of dictatorship.

Brotherhood supporters, and some members of the coalition of youth activists that helped sparked the Tahrir uprising, cheered Morsi for standing up for a legislature they view as freely and fairly elected.

But several candidates from the presidential election deplored Morsi’s action as a power grab. Even some Mubarak opponents, liberals and secularists, saw Morsi’s actions as an end-run that threatened the country’s judicial integrity.

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