CAIRO – A new showdown loomed in Egypt on Monday as the country’s highest court stood by its ruling that dissolved parliament last month, challenging the new Islamist president’s plans to reconvene the lower chamber in defiance of the military.

If he goes ahead, Mohammed Morsi would be taking a dramatic step away from the outreach that characterized his first days in office. It’s a tough fight, though, and the president could lose it along with more of his already diminished powers.

The military, which handed power to Morsi on June 30 after ruling the country for 16 months, delivered a thinly-veiled warning to the president, saying it would continue to support the country’s “legitimacy, constitution and law” – language that means it will not stand by and watch the rulings of the country’s top court ignored or breached.