Tom DeLay was the very symbol of Congressional power and, in the view of his detractors, excess. His political career collapsed in 2005 when Mr. DeLay, a Texas Republican who was the House majority leader, was indicted on money-laundering charges that resulted in a three-year prison sentence.

But Mr. DeLay’s long and colorful life took another turn on Thursday as a Texas appeals court threw out the November 2010 verdict, ruling that what he was convicted of — laundering corporate contributions to divert money to elect Republicans to the State Legislature — did not violate any state laws.

Mr. DeLay, as it turned out, was in Washington at a luncheon with his former Republican colleagues when the decision was announced. The former congressman, known as the Hammer for a political style that embraced hard-edge political tactics and a relationship with Washington lobbyists that invited scrutiny from prosecutors, was nothing short of jubilant, praising God and belittling Democrats and prosecutors for making such an effort to go after him.

“I just thank the Lord for carrying me through all of this,” Mr. DeLay told reporters as he left a meeting of the Texas Republican delegation. “It really drove my detractors crazy because I had the joy of Jesus in me, and they didn’t understand it.”