Mubarak-era judge set to take over as Egypt's acting president

Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi, who was in office for one year as the country's first democratically elected leader, is no longer in power according to the military -- and his whereabouts are unknown.  Tens of thousands turned out in Tahrir Square to celebrate by waving flags, dancing and shooting fireworks, as it was announced that the constitution has been suspended. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

By Ian Johnston and Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News

An Egyptian constitutional court judge appointed by Hosni Mubarak - the strongman leader ousted by the Arab Spring uprising - was due to be sworn in as acting president on Thursday after the military overthrew the country’s first democratically elected head of state.
Adly Mansour, chairman of the Supreme Constitutional Court, was to take office for an unspecified transitional period. The army stressed it had no interest in power and would seek to hold early elections but it was unclear when they would occur.
The country’s constitution, which opponents of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi claimed was rewritten to favor his Muslim Brotherhood movement, was also suspended on Wednesday.
A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood confirmed that Morsi was under house arrest at the Republican Guard Club. Most members of presidential team have also been placed under house arrest.
On Monday, the military gave Morsi 48 hours to meet the demands of millions of protesters who had taken to the streets demanding his resignation and fresh elections. On Wednesday, as the deadline ran out, the military moved to depose him.
Armored vehicles, tanks and troops were deployed throughout the Egyptian capital, including near the presidential palace. The army seized the headquarters of the state television and the state-run newspaper, which reported that Morsi had been told he was no longer president.
Mansour, 68, was appointed to the court by Mubarak, who was forced out in 2011 after some three decades in power.

Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News foreign correspondent, talks with Rachel Maddow live from Tahrir Square in Cairo about what happens now that President Morsi has been removed from power after only a year in office, and what makes this popular uprising in Egypt different from the one that saw the removal of Hosni Mubarak.

However, Mansour was elevated to the chief justice post by Morsi and will be sworn in by judges of his court, The Associated Press reported.
Ahead of being sworn in as interim president, Mansour took the oath of office as head of the constitutional court Thursday. He was so recently appointed by Morsi that this had not yet happened.
The army has taken control of state media and blacked out TV stations operated by the Muslim Brotherhood. Mohamed Saad Katatni, the head of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, was arrested.
The Brotherhood were left to cry foul after their victory in last year’s elections -- deemed to be free and fair -- was overturned by the military.
A “new era of repression and tyranny, of an impending authoritarian police state” had begun, the Brotherhood’s website said, with TV channels shut down, arrests of politicians and “many citizens killed as they demonstrated peacefully.”
Katatni's son Muaaz Saad Katatni denounced his father’s arrest. “Those who claim to defend freedoms and democracy, invited my father for dialogue in the afternoon … then arrested him in the evening,” he said, according to the website, adding “Welcome to the new era of freedoms!”
Mohamed Beltagy, member of the Freedom and Justice Party executive bureau, was quoted on the website as saying that they had tried to stay in power and negotiate a solution not in “defense of any particular person or group, but to defend the will of the people which is … not expressed in mutual crowd-massing but using the tools of democracy which we accepted and they rejected.”
He said Morsi's followers had not resorted to violence but “our leaders and youths were killed, our offices – and even our homes – stormed, ransacked, burned and totally destroyed – not to mention the insults and obscenities we had to suffer.”
“As electoral and constitutional legitimacy is rejected, a certain viewpoint is imposed on all, and guardianship is enforced over the people against their clearly expressed will,” Beltagy added.
In a statement, President Barack Obama said the United States supported “a set of core principles, including opposition to violence, protection of universal human rights, and reform that meets the legitimate aspirations of the people.”

The president is asking Egypt's military to quickly return full authority to their democratically elected civilian government. The White House is now on the spot because of the perception among Egypt's protesters that the U.S. overlooked president Mohammed Morsi's crackdown on democracy.  NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

He added: “We are deeply concerned by the decision of the Egyptian Armed Forces to remove President Morsi and suspend the Egyptian constitution. I now call on the Egyptian military to move quickly and responsibly to return full authority back to a democratically elected civilian government as soon as possible through an inclusive and transparent process, and to avoid any arbitrary arrests of President Morsi and his supporters.”
Early Thursday, it remained unclear whether the U.S. government would define the military’s decision to oust Morsi as a coup as this could affect the $1.5 billion in aid given to Egypt annually.
U.S. law bans military or financial assistance “to the government of any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by military coup or decree.”
Obama said in his statement that he had “directed the relevant departments and agencies to review the implications under U.S. law for our assistance to the government of Egypt.”
“No transition to democracy comes without difficulty, but in the end it must stay true to the will of the people,” he added. “An honest, capable and representative government is what ordinary Egyptians seek and what they deserve.”
The army insisted it had not carried out a coup, but had acted on the will of the people to clear the way for a new leadership.

Rampant crime, a crumbling economy and a revolution hijacked by Islamic fundamentalists all contributed to the country's unrest, prompting calls for change by many in Egypt, including those who had voted for Mohammed Morsi. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

However, a statement from Morsi’s office’s Twitter account quoted the deposed president as saying the military’s measures “represent a full coup categorically rejected by all the free men of our nation.”
Little has emerged about Mansour's background.
Mohammed Hamed El Gamal, the former head of the State Council judicial body, in a statement to Al Shabab, an offshoot of state-run newspaper Al Ahram, said Mansoour was a “fair man” with allegiances only to “the constitution and the law.”
“I am certain that he will respect the will of the Egyptian people and legal and constitutional legitimacy … He will be cooperative, understanding and execute the will of the people as he has always done,” Gamal said, according to a translation on the Muftah.org website.
Mansour studied law at Cairo University, graduating in 1967. He also studied in Paris and was a legal adviser to the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Trade from 1983 to 1990, Muftah.org said. He became a judge in 1984.
Mansour became deputy head of the constitutional court in 1992, the BBC said. He was picked by Morsi to become chief justice and this was confirmed by the constitutional court's general assembly on May 19.