This issue before the Court was whether flying a helicopter over Riley's greenhouse at 400 feet constituted an illegal search in violation of the fourth amendment. The Court reasoned that Riley's home and greenhouse were not necessarily protected from inspection that involved no physical invasion. Police may see what may be seen from a public vantage point without obtaining a warrant. Therefore, since the police investigator had a right to be in the public airspace over Riley's greenhouse and to see what could be seen from that vantage point with his naked eye, he did not violate the fourth amendment warrant requirement when he flew the helicopter at 400 feet over Riley's greenhouse. The controlling case in the Court's decision was California v. Ciraola, decided in 1986.