LONDON -- Britain's most powerful judges take up their first case this week with new robes, new titles, a new office, and _ some argue _ more power.
Monday marks the hearing of the first case by Britain's new Supreme Court, a group of 12 justices who were until recently known as the Law Lords.
The justices used to make their rulings from the red benches of the stately House of Lords. They now sit across the street at London's faux-medieval Middlesex Guildhall, at a simple crescent table, on a carpet designed by Peter Blake _ the artist behind the cover of the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.
Although in most ways the changes are cosmetic, the removal of the nation's highest court from the legislature is meant to emphasize Britain's separation of powers. The Supreme Court building faces Britain's Houses of Parliament, the Treasury building and Westminster Cathedral across the open space of Parliament Square.
One leading judge has argued that the focus on independence might make the new court more muscular in its judgments _ and potentially more ambitious. In an interview with BBC radio last month, David Neuberger, one of the country's most senior judges, said there was a risk of the Supreme Court justices "arrogating to themselves greater power than they have at the moment."
The sentiment was disputed by the Supreme Court's president, Lord Phillips, who said such a move was unlikely _ although he did acknowledge it was a possibility.
The justices moved out of the House of Lords in August 2009, shortly after ruling in favor of multiple sclerosis sufferer Debbie Purdy, whose campaign to find out whether her husband would be prosecuted if he helped her kill herself touched off a national debate over assisted suicide.
This week the justices are due to take up the case of terror suspects whose assets have been frozen.
Unusually for Britain, where cameras and tape recorders are typically banned from the courtroom, proceedings will routinely be broadcast.
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