In the case of Board of Trustees of the Village of Scarsdale, et al. v. Kathleen S. McCreary et al., 1984, the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of a local government that refused to allow a privately-funded nativity scene on public property during Christmas season. The residents argued that their First Amendment rights were violated by this refusal but the court disagreed stating that it was within constitutional bounds for a municipality to deny such requests if they felt it could be perceived as an endorsement or disapproval of religion which would violate Establishment Clause principles. This decision upheld lower courts' rulings and established precedent for similar cases involving religious displays on public property.

In the dissenting opinion for the case of Board of Trustees of the Village of Scarsdale v. McCreary, Justice Brennan argued that by denying a religious group's application to erect a nativity scene in a public park while allowing other groups to display secular symbols, Scarsdale violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause. He contended that this decision constituted viewpoint discrimination as it favored secular over religious speech. Furthermore, he believed that there was no evidence suggesting such displays would lead to excessive entanglement between church and state or give an impression of government endorsement for Christianity. Instead, he saw it as an opportunity for pluralism where various beliefs could be expressed publicly without fear or favoritism from governmental entities.