No, but multiple pieces of artwork in the Supreme Court building, including the courtroom, show the historical significance of the Ten Commandments in a context that puts it on par with other influential laws from numerous cultural backgrounds. None of those artworks includes the actual text of the Ten Commandments, although four commandments are partly visible in Hebrew letters in one image. It is perhaps notable that those specific commandments, Nos. 6 to 10, are totally secular in nature, unlike the first few commandments, which are explicitly sectarian.

Courtroom friezes portray Moses as one of 18 historic lawgivers. He is given equal prominence with lawgivers from a variety of religious backgrounds, including Islam, Confucianism, sun worship, and both Egyptian and Greco-Roman paganism. While Moses is shown holding the tables of the Ten Commandments, Muhammad is shown holding the Quran, the primary source of Islamic law, and the first pharaoh, Menes, is shown holding the ankh, an Egyptian mythological symbol representing eternal life. Other figures are shown holding secular legal documents. England’s 12th-century King John is shown holding the Magna Carta, which he signed, while the Dutch legal scholar and statesman Hugo Grotius is shown holding his 1625 book, Concerning the Law of War and Peace, one of the first books on international law.

The frieze also includes Greco-Roman-style allegorical figures, including Equity, Philosophy, Right of Man, Liberty and Peace. To see an actual image of this frieze, visit this page on the Supreme Court’s Web site.

A separate frieze at the Supreme Court shows a single tablet containing the Roman numerals 1 to 10, but no text. The Ten Commandments are usually portrayed as being on two tablets of stone; so the single tablet with Roman numerals does not necessarily represent the Ten Commandments, and has been interpreted to represent ancient laws generally. The bottom of one door to the courtroom has a carving of two tablets with the Roman numerals 1 to 10, but no text.

Sculptures above the east entrance to the Supreme Court building again portray Moses (holding blank tablets) as one of three major Eastern lawgivers, the others being Confucius and Solon, portrayed with numerous other allegorical figures and the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare. Moses is at the center of this group, above the words “Justice the Guardian of Liberty,” but according to a description of the East Pediment on the Supreme Court’s Web site, this art pays tribute to great civilizations and their laws, without specific mention of the Ten Commandments.

Other prominent art at the main entrance to the Supreme Court building includes no biblical references, and shows only the secular history of law. Images from that entrance and other parts of the Supreme Court building are online here.

Thus, the context of the portrayals of the Ten Commandments in Supreme Court art is arguably consistent with the Court’s treatment of Nativity scenes on public property in Lynch v. Donnelly (1984). Under that precedent, a predominantly religious display on public property violates the First Amendment principle against the state establishing religion, but a display that combines religious and secular elements to present a secular message is often allowable.