AUSTIN, Tex., June 27 - The two stone tablets of sunset-red Texas granite inscribed with the Ten Commandments have been a popular draw at the State Capitol here since Cecil B. DeMille helped finance hundreds of them around the country in the years after the release of his 1956 Biblical screen epic.
But tourists and politicians sought out the monument with special ardor Monday after the Supreme Court approved it as a constitutionally permissible display of religion in a historical context, in contrast to displays in two Kentucky courthouses that the court struck down as improper promotion of religion.
"The Supreme Court has made clear that Texas is a model of how governmental bodies across the country can constitutionally display religious symbols," said Greg Abbott, the attorney general of Texas, who argued the case for the monument and held a triumphant news conference in front of it.
Elsewhere, the decisions drew praise and condemnation. Americans United for Separation of Church and State called the decisions "a mixed verdict, but on balance it's a win for separation of religion and government."
Roy S. Moore, the former chief justice of Alabama who was ousted for defying a federal judge's order to remove a Ten Commandments display in the state judicial building, said: "It's a devastating blow to Christianity in this country. You can post an acknowledgment of God as long as you say you don't believe in it."
The Austin tablets, unveiled in 1961, are among 17 monuments and 21 markers, commemorating heroes of the Alamo, Confederate veterans, cowboys, Texas rangers, pioneer women and others, scattered over the 22 acres of the Capitol grounds.
Thomas Van Orden, the lawyer who sued Texas over the display in 2002, gave his reaction as "not happy." Mr. Van Orden, who researched the case in libraries while living in a tent, said he would spend the day reflecting "on the past three and a half years, including on everything you went through."
Beth Wilson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, which filed a lawsuit in 1999 challenging the displays in McCreary and Pulaski Counties, said that the decision enforced a constitutional rule that government should not promote religion. "There's a movement in our state and in this country in which people want to impose a particular religion upon others," she said. "This ruling protects religious freedom for every citizen."
Jimmie Greene, the former judge-executive of McCreary County, who in October 1999 ordered the framed copy of the commandments posted in the county courthouse, said, "I cried when I heard about the ruling."
"But I believe the Supreme Court has spoken," he said. "I'd have to say that this case is the pivotal point on this issue. Still, people should know that when I ordered the commandments posted, it never entered my mind that this would offend anyone."
More than 7 in 10 Americans believe such displays are proper, according to a poll last August by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
"This is a huge victory," said Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel for Liberty Legal Institute in Plano, Tex., which represented the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the group that worked with DeMille to donate the Ten Commandments displays across the nation. "Thousands of Ten Commandments monuments will now stand in public parks, courthouses and state capitols across the country."
But other conservative groups were disappointed. "Today's split ruling sends a mixed message to the American public," said James C. Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family Action in Colorado Springs. "The court has failed to decide whether it will stand up for religious freedom of expression, or if it will allow liberal special interests to banish God from the public square."
The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, which calls itself the nation's largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, welcomed the rulings.
Nathan Diament, the union's director of public policy, said: "As representatives of the faith to whom the Ten Commandments were initially given on Sinai, we have a deep appreciation for the role these principles have played in the development of a just and moral society. To entirely eliminate their display from the public square on the basis of their religious source would be a misguided attempt to oust religion from its critical role in American life."