California v. Ciraolo

[Intro]
[Verse]
A backyard hidden behind a ten-foot wall
Safety in the garden where the shadows fall
Dante Ciraolo thought he was alone
In the private sanctuary of his home
But a tip came in about the green in the dirt
Something the sheriff wanted to assert
With no warrant signed and no door to kick
They found a different way to make it stick
[Pre-Chorus]
They took to the air in a fixed-wing flight
A thousand feet up in the morning light
The naked eye saw what the fence tried to hide
Looking down from the open side
[Chorus]
California versus Ciraolo
Where does the Fourth Amendment go?
If the public can fly then the law can see
The end of the expectation of privacy
High above the curated line
In the airspace where the sunbeams shine
Justice Burger wrote the final word
The garden’s secrets have been heard
[Verse]
The defense argued for the sanctity of space
The intimate details of a person's place
But the bench looked back at the common route
Where the commercial pilots fly about
If a traveler passing could glance below
Then the Fourth Amendment has nowhere to go
No search occurred in the legal sense
Just a simple view over the backyard fence
[Bridge]
It’s a curtilage question, a matter of degrees
What’s protected by the walls and the trees?
But the sky is a highway, open and wide
And you can’t claim cover from the top-down side
[Guitar Solo]
[Chorus]
California versus Ciraolo
Where does the Fourth Amendment go?
If the public can fly then the law can see
The end of the expectation of privacy
High above the curated line
In the airspace where the sunbeams shine
Justice Burger wrote the final word
The garden’s secrets have been heardOne thousand feet
The altitude of the law
The gaze from the clouds
The flaw in the wall
Case closed.
Case closed.

Blues, Country, Chill, Slow (66-76 BPM), Steady