Ecuador's top lawmaker Wednesday accepted a judge's ruling reinstating 57 opposition legislators who were dismissed this month for obstructing President Rafael Correa's plans to rewrite the constitution.

The decision by opposition leader and Congress President Jorge Cevallos to accept Tuesday's ruling by a Guayas province judge threw the legislature into confusion and fueled tensions between the opposition and leftist Correa.

Ecuador's election court this month sacked the lawmakers, charging them with trying to block Correa's plan for a vote on constitutional reform. Cevallos' decision may be short-lived, with the constitutional court expected to make a final ruling on the dismissals this week.

The ousted lawmakers were replaced by substitutes who handed Correa a slim majority.

"I have to abide by the decision of the Guayas judge," Cevallos told Congress, triggering screams of "traitor" from pro-Correa substitute lawmakers who tried to block him as he was escorted from the chamber by police.

The decision was a reversal for Cevallos, who swore in the substitutes this month and allowed Congress to convene without the fired lawmakers.

The ousted legislators say they were fired illegally, and the Guayas province judge accepted an appeal to suspend the dismissals.

Correa and his congressional foes are locked in a power struggle over his proposal to revamp the constitution to curtail the influence of political party leaders whom many Ecuadoreans blame for a decade of instability.

In two months in office, Correa has repeatedly clashed with lawmakers whom he brands corrupt elites. He says his political and economic overhaul will better address the needs of the poor in South America's No. 5 oil producer.

Ecuadoreans are due to vote in an April referendum whether to convoke the constitutional assembly.

Correa's opponents fear the U.S.-trained economist will use a citizens' assembly to revamp the constitution to weaken the legislature and bolster presidential powers, as his ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez did after his election.