(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121129-egypt-constitution.photoblog600.jpg)Mohamed Abd El Ghany / ReutersMembers of Egypt's Constituent Assembly talk during the last voting session on a new draft constitution at the Shoura Assembly in Cairo on Thursday.By Jim Maceda, NBC NewsNews analysis
CAIRO, Egypt — Constitutions are often messy affairs. Our own Constitutional Convention, in 1787, was convened secretly, behind guarded doors. Many delegates were suspicious it was all a ploy by George Washington to wrest power from personal freedoms. Some delegates walked out before the hard work even began. And once the writing was finished, four of the 13 states didn't even ratify it.
But few constitutions have generated the road bumps — or media coverage — that Egypt’s new, post-Hosni Mubarak constitution has.
There are several reasons why this particular document is getting so much attention. It’s not only because it would detail Egypt’s future government and the values upheld by it. All constitutions do that. What makes this constitutional process unusual is the way in which it’s been hijacked by the political crisis playing out in Egypt today — a crisis that pits Islamists, led by Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi, against their opponents, led primarily by Egypt's judges.
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