the supreme court ruled on june 27, 2005, by a vote of 5 to 4, that the display was constitutional. the court chose not to employ the popular lemon test in its analysis, reasoning that the display at issue was a "passive monument." instead, the court looked to "the nature of the monument and ... our nation's history." chief justice william rehnquist delivered the plurality opinion of the court; justice stephen breyer concurred in the judgment but wrote separately. the similar case of "mccreary county v. aclu of kentucky" was handed down the same day with the opposite result (also with a 5 to 4 decision). the "swing vote" in both cases was breyer.