Washington ? Seated, as always, below an ornate marble frieze depicting Moses holding a Ten Commandments tablet, the Supreme Court wrestled Wednesday with the emotional and increasingly political issue of when — and how — displays of the biblical laws should be permitted on government property.

Hearing arguments in two cases involving Ten Commandment postings on the state Capitol grounds in Texas and in county courthouses in Kentucky, the justices struggled with the divisive question of whether those displays and hundreds like them across the country amount to harmless historical items or an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.

Fencing and signs erected by the City of La Crosse, Wis. surround a Ten Commandments monument. The Supreme Court is debating the legality of such displays.

In 1980, the court struck down a law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in all classrooms in Kentucky. But its broader history on religion and public life has been more complex, with the court allowing legislative prayer and, in some instances, city-backed Nativity scenes but banning as “unduly coercive” benedictions at public school graduations.

A key question for the court is whether to fashion a broad rule on Ten Commandment displays or create a case-by-case test that draws heavily on questions about the context of such postings, their purpose and effect.

Within its courtroom, the ceiling-height marble frieze showing Moses with the Ten Commandments is part of an elaborate carving showing other prominent “lawgivers of history,” including Napoleon, Muhammad, Hammurabi and Chief Justice John Marshall. In a 1989 ruling, Justice John Paul Stevens suggested the court’s historic display would be constitutional because of the inclusion of secular figures.

The same issues of context, history and intent were central in both cases before the court Wednesday. A decision in the two cases is expected by June.