Court Opinion

ID: 9961987
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-22 14:00:55.793154+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:19:39.744107
License: Public Domain

USCA11 Case: 23-10062     Document: 33-1      Date Filed: 04/22/2024      Page: 1 of 18

                                                     [DO NOT PUBLISH]
                                     In the
                 United States Court of Appeals
                          For the Eleventh Circuit

                            ____________________

                                  No. 23-10062
                            Non-Argument Calendar
                            ____________________

        CURTRINA MARTIN,
        Individually and as Parent and Next friend of,
        G.W.,
        a Minor,
        HILLIARD TOI CLIATT,
                                                         Plaintiﬀs-Appellants,
        versus
        UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
        LAWRENCE GUERRA,
        SIX UNKNOWN FBI AGENTS,

                                                    Defendants-Appellees.
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        2                      Opinion of the Court                  23-10062

                             ____________________

                   Appeal from the United States District Court
                      for the Northern District of Georgia
                       D.C. Docket No. 1:19-cv-04106-JPB
                            ____________________

        Before LAGOA, BRASHER, and ABUDU, Circuit Judges.
        PER CURIAM:
               Plaintiﬀs-Appellants Curtrina Martin, her minor child, G.W.,
        and Hilliard Toi Cliatt (collectively, “Appellants”) appeal the dismis-
        sal of their action for violation of the Fourth Amendment to the
        United States Constitution. In October 2017, agents of the Federal
        Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) executed a no-knock search war-
        rant at Appellants’ house which was not the address identiﬁed in
        the warrant. The target address—which was reportedly the home
        of Jospeh Riley, a violent gang member—was located approxi-
        mately a block away from Appellants’ house and shared similar
        conspicuous features with Appellants’ house.
                Appellants initiated an action against the FBI agents pursu-
        ant to Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Nar-
        cotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971) and the United States under the Federal
        Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), alleging that the FBI agents violated
        their Fourth Amendment rights and were also liable for damages
        under Georgia tort law. The district court granted summary judg-
        ment in favor of the FBI agents and the United States.
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        23-10062               Opinion of the Court                        3

               After careful review of the record and the parties’ briefs, we
        aﬃrm the district court’s grant of summary judgment and dismis-
        sal of Appellants’ claims.
        I.    BACKGROUND
               On October 18, 2017, during the predawn hours, a team of
        six unidentiﬁed FBI agents—led by special agent, Lawrence
        Guerra—executed a presumably valid search warrant at 3756 Den-
        ville Trace, SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30331, Appellants’ home. The
        target location of the search warrant was 3741 Landau Lane, SW,
        Atlanta, Georgia 30331, which is located approximately three
        houses away from Appellants’ house. Despite taking several pre-
        cautionary measures to ensure proper execution of the search war-
        rant, Guerra and the FBI agents inadvertently executed the search
        warrant at the wrong house.
                             A. The FBI’s Operation Red Tape
               In 2015, the FBI initiated Operation Red Tape—an operation
        concerning violent gang activity in Georgia. The Operation re-
        sulted in a criminal indictment and the issuance of arrest warrants
        for several individuals, including Riley. The FBI assigned Guerra to
        lead a Special Weapons and Tactics (“SWAT”) team that was tasked
        with executing the arrest warrant for Riley at 3741 Landau Lane.
               In preparation for the warrant execution, the FBI created a
        general operation order and a SWAT addendum to the operation
        order. The SWAT addendum contained photographs of Riley, a
        description of his violent history and gun possession, a photograph
        of 3741 Landau Lane, SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30331, an overhead
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        4                      Opinion of the Court                 23-10062

        map image of the neighborhood, and directions to 3741 Landau
        Lane. Prior to the warrant execution, Guerra reviewed a copy of
        the general operation order and the SWAT addendum.
                                B. Pre-Execution Preparation
               The FBI has a standard operating procedure that its agents
        conduct a site survey or a drive-by prior to executing a high-risk
        warrant such as the one for Riley’s arrest. However, the FBI does
        not have any policies governing how to locate or navigate to a tar-
        get address nor does it prohibit using a personal GPS to locate a
        target address.
               Shortly before the warrant execution, Guerra and another
        FBI agent, Gregory Donovan conducted a site survey of 3741 Lan-
        dau Lane during daylight hours. They used the Google Maps ap-
        plication on Donovan’s cellphone to navigate to 3741 Landau Lane.
               During the site survey, Guerra took several photographs of
        3741 Landau Lane. He also documented speciﬁc physical features
        of 3741 Landau Lane that he believed were unique to the house.
        He noted that the house was beige and split-level; it was located on
        a corner lot; it had a side-entry garage on a separate street that ran
        perpendicular to the front door; it had a very large tree in the front
        yard; and the house number appeared on a small mailbox and not
        on the front of the house.
               After Guerra completed the site survey, he identiﬁed a stag-
        ing area where the SWAT team would meet prior to the warrant
        execution. Additionally, he made tactical notes of the order in
        which each SWAT team member would position themselves
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        23-10062               Opinion of the Court                          5

        outside of 3741 Landau Lane and assigned tasks to each SWAT
        team member for the warrant execution.
               In addition to completing the site survey, Guerra attended
        an operational brieﬁng regarding the warrant execution. The brief-
        ing consisted of several presentations that included photographs of
        Riley and 3741 Landau Lane.
               On the day of the warrant execution, Guerra and FBI special
        agent, Michael Lemoine, conducted a pre-raid drive-by of 3741
        Landau Lane. It was completely dark outside when they conducted
        the pre-raid drive-by. Guerra used his personal GPS device to nav-
        igate to 3741 Landau Lane. Although he entered 3741 Landau Lane
        into his GPS device, it directed him and Lemoine to 3756 Denville
        Trace—Appellants’ house. Appellants’ house is approximately 436
        feet from 3741 Landau Lane. Although Appellants’ house is lo-
        cated on Denville Trace, it faces Landau Lane.
                Guerra believed he was at 3741 Landau Lane because Appel-
        lants’ house had many of the same features that he noted for the
        target address during his site survey. Similar to 3741 Landau Lane,
        Appellants’ house was beige; it was located on the corner of the
        street; it was split-level; it contained a stairwell to the front door;
        there was a very large tree in front of the house; it had a side-entry
        garage on a separate street that ran perpendicular to the front
        door; and the house number did not appear anywhere on the
        house, but instead appeared on the mailbox. Although the mailbox
        is visible from the street, the house number is not.
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        6                      Opinion of the Court                 23-10062

               Guerra and Lemoine noticed a black Camaro in Appellants’
        driveway that Guerra did not recall seeing when he completed his
        site survey of 3741 Landau Lane a few days earlier. They would
        later use the black Camaro and a large tree as reference points when
        searching for the target address for the warrant execution.
                               C. Search Warrant Execution
               Around 3:30 a.m. on the day of the warrant execution,
        Guerra arrived at the staging area and briefed the SWAT team and
        oﬃcers from the Atlanta Police Department (“APD”). Guerra
        showed the SWAT team members photographs of 3741 Landau
        Lane and Riley, and he briefed the agents on his tactical plan regard-
        ing the warrant execution.
                Following the brieﬁng and while it was still dark outside, the
        SWAT team and APD oﬃcers—led by Guerra—headed towards
        the target address in a caravan of vehicles. When Guerra spotted
        the black Camaro, he stopped his vehicle in front of Appellants’
        house, believing that he was at 3741 Landau Lane, and the other
        vehicles followed suit. The SWAT team—dressed in full tactical
        gear and armed with riﬂes and handguns—quickly exited the vehi-
        cles and reported to their assigned locations surrounding Appel-
        lants’ house. Guerra knocked and announced the presence of law
        enforcement before an agent breached the front door. Another
        agent deployed a ﬂashbang at the entrance of the home. The
        SWAT team entered the house.
               When the SWAT team entered Appellants’ house, Cliatt—
        afraid that their home was being burglarized—ran towards the
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        23-10062              Opinion of the Court                       7

        bedroom closet where he kept a shotgun for protection. As Cliatt
        ran towards the bedroom closet, Martin bolted towards the door
        to get her then seven-year-old son. However, Cliatt pulled Martin
        towards their bedroom closet, and the two hid in there.
              A SWAT team member located Cliatt and Martin in their
        bedroom closet, dragged Cliatt out of the closet and onto the bed-
        room ﬂoor with guns pointed at him, and handcuﬀed him. During
        the same time, Martin fell in the closet, and another SWAT team
        member pointed a gun in her face while yelling at her to keep her
        hands up. No one handcuﬀed or touched Martin. Guerra entered
        the bedroom and realized that Cliatt did not have the same face and
        neck tattoos that he observed in the photographs of Riley, so he
        asked Cliatt for his name and address. Cliatt provided Guerra with
        his name and address.
               While Guerra was in the bedroom questioning Cliatt, Lem-
        oine noticed a piece of mail that had a diﬀerent address than 3741
        Landau Lane and notiﬁed Guerra that they were at the wrong ad-
        dress. Upon realizing that they were at the wrong house, Guerra
        immediately ended the raid: an agent lifted Cliatt oﬀ the ground
        and uncuﬀed him; Guerra told Cliatt that he would come back later
        and explain what happened; and the agents left the house.
               After leaving Appellants’ house, Guerra and the SWAT team
        executed the search warrant at 3741 Landau Lane where they ar-
        rested Riley. After executing the search warrant at the target ad-
        dress, Guerra returned to Appellants’ house, apologized to them,
        documented the damages caused by the mistaken raid, provided
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        8                      Opinion of the Court                23-10062

        them with the contact information for his supervisor, and advised
        them that the FBI would handle the damage repairs.
              Shortly after the mistaken raid at Appellants’ house, Guerra
        reported the incident to the appropriate FBI representative and
        completed an incident report. Guerra also stopped using his per-
        sonal GPS for warrant executions and eventually threw it away.
                                        D. Lawsuit
                In September 2019, Appellants brought a Bivens claim
        against Guerra and the six unidentiﬁed FBI agents who participated
        in the raid, alleging that Guerra and the agents’ mistaken execution
        of the search warrant at their house violated their Fourth Amend-
        ment rights. They also brought state law claims for negligence,
        negligent/intentional inﬂiction of emotional distress, trespass and
        interference with private property, false arrest/false imprisonment,
        and assault and battery against the United States under the FTCA.
        Guerra and the government moved for summary judgment on Ap-
        pellants’ claims.
               The district court granted in part and denied in part the mo-
        tion for summary judgment. Speciﬁcally, the district court granted
        summary judgment on Appellants’ Bivens claim and state law
        claims for negligence, negligent inﬂiction of emotional distress,
        and trespass. However, the district court denied summary judg-
        ment on the false imprisonment and assault and battery claims.
                Following the district court’s grant of partial summary judg-
        ment, the parties ﬁled cross motions for reconsideration. The dis-
        trict court held that, given our recent decision in Kordash v. United
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        23-10062                Opinion of the Court                           9

        States, 51 F.4th 1289 (11th Cir. 2022), the Supremacy Clause defense
        barred Appellants’ remaining FTCA tort claims.
              The district court entered judgment and Appellants timely
        appealed.
        II.    STANDARD OF REVIEW
               We review the district court’s grant of summary judgment
        de novo, Holloman v. Mail-Well Corp., 443 F.3d 832, 836 (11th Cir.
        2006), and denial of a motion for reconsideration for abuse of dis-
        cretion. Corwin v. Walt Disney Co., 475 F.3d 1239, 1254 (11th Cir.
        2007). We also review de novo the district court’s qualiﬁed immun-
        ity analysis. Hardigree v. Lofton, 992 F.3d 1216, 1223 (11th Cir. 2021).
        We may aﬃrm a district court’s grant of summary judgment for
        any reason supported by the record. Mata Chorwadi, Inc. v. City of
        Boynton Beach, 66 F.4th 1259, 1263 (11th Cir. 2023).
                Summary judgment is appropriate when no genuine issue
        of material fact exists. Sutton v. Wal-Mart Stores E., LP, 64 F.4th 1166,
        1168 (11th Cir. 2023). An issue of fact is not genuine unless a rea-
        sonable jury could return a verdict in favor of the non-moving
        party. Baxter v. Roberts, 54 F.4th 1241, 1253 (11th Cir. 2022) (quoting
        Beal v. Paramount Pictures Corp., 20 F.3d 454, 459 (11th Cir. 1994)). At
        the summary judgment stage, we construe all facts and make all
        reasonable inferences in favor of the non-moving party. Baxter, 54
        F.4th at 1253 (quoting Stryker v. City of Homewood, 978 F.3d 769, 773
        (11th Cir. 2020)). However, we must only view the evidence in a
        light most favorable to the non-moving party to the extent that the
        non-moving party’s position is supported by the record. Id.
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        10                     Opinion of the Court                  23-10062

        Therefore, simply because some alleged factual dispute exists be-
        tween the parties does not mean summary judgment cannot be
        otherwise granted. Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 380 (2007).
        III.   DISCUSSION
                  A. The District Court Properly Determined that Qualiﬁed Im-
                     munity Protects Guerra from Suit.
               Appellants argue that Guerra is not entitled to qualiﬁed im-
        munity because his mistaken execution of the search warrant at
        their house was not a reasonable mistake and, therefore, his con-
        duct violated the Fourth Amendment.
                Qualiﬁed immunity protects government actors performing
        discretionary functions from civil liability. Andujar v. Rodriquez, 486
        F.3d 1199, 1202 (11th Cir. 2007) (quotation marks and citation omit-
        ted). Government oﬃcials are entitled to qualiﬁed immunity un-
        less their conduct violates “clearly established statutory or consti-
        tutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.”
        Merricks v. Adkisson, 785 F.3d 553, 558 (11th Cir. 2015) (quoting Har-
        low v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818 (1982)).
               To “resolv[e] questions of qualiﬁed immunity at summary
        judgment,” we conduct “a two-pronged inquiry.” Tolan v. Cotton,
        572 U.S. 650, 655 (2014) (quotation marks and citation omitted).
        First, we ask “whether the facts, taken in the light most favorable
        to the party asserting the injury . . . show the oﬃcer’s conduct vio-
        lated a federal right.” Id. at 655–56 (alterations adopted) (quotation
        marks and citation omitted). Next, we must decide “whether the
        right in question was ‘clearly established’ at the time of the
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        23-10062               Opinion of the Court                        11

        violation.” Id. at 656 (quoting Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, 739
        (2002)). To determine whether a right is clearly established, we ask
        whether the law on the date of the alleged misconduct gave the
        defendant fair notice that their alleged misconduct was unconstitu-
        tional. Hardigree, 922 F.3d at 1224 (citing Hope, 536 U.S. at 741).
               Here, it is undisputed that Guerra was acting within his dis-
        cretionary authority, so the sole issue for our resolution is whether
        his actions violated clearly established law.
                 The Fourth Amendment, as applied to the states through
        the Fourteenth Amendment, protects individuals from unreasona-
        ble searches of their property. Gennusa v. Canova, 748 F.3d 1103,
        1109–10 (11th Cir. 2014). “[A] Fourth Amendment search occurs
        ‘when the government violates a subjective expectation of privacy
        that society recognizes as reasonable.’” Id. at 1110 (quoting Kyllo v.
        United States, 533 U.S. 27, 33 (2001)). However, oﬃcers who make
        “honest mistakes” during “the dangerous and diﬃcult process
        of . . . executing search warrants” do not violate the Fourth
        Amendment. Maryland v. Garrison, 480 U.S. 79, 87 (1987). The of-
        ﬁcer is entitled to qualiﬁed immunity so long as he “engage[d] in
        reasonable eﬀorts to avoid error.” Hartsﬁeld v. Lemacks, 50 F.3d 950,
        955 (11th Cir. 1995). Thus, the “touchstone of the Fourth Amend-
        ment is reasonableness.” Ohio v. Robinette, 519 U.S. 33, 39 (1996)
        (quotation marks omitted) (quoting Florida v. Jimeno, 500 U.S. 248,
        250 (1991)). Reasonableness is measured “by examining the totality
        of the circumstances.” Id.
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        12                      Opinion of the Court                  23-10062

               In Hartsﬁeld, we explained that an oﬃcer who makes “rea-
        sonable eﬀort[s] to ascertain and identify the” target address of a
        valid search warrant complies with the Fourth Amendment even if
        error is ultimately not averted. 50 F.3d at 954–55 (quoting Garrison,
        480 U.S. at 88–89). Appellants contend that Guerra failed to make
        reasonable eﬀorts to identify 3741 Landau Lane before mistakenly
        executing the warrant at their house. Speciﬁcally, Appellants argue
        that Guerra did not conduct a site survey or drive-by of 3741 Lan-
        dau Lane prior to the warrant execution. Assuming Guerra failed
        to conduct a survey or pre-raid drive-by, the other actions he took
        to identify 3741 Landau Lane were “consistent with a reasonable
        eﬀort to ascertain and identify the place intended to be searched.”
        See Hartsﬁeld, 50 F.3d at 955 (quoting Garrison, 480 U.S. at 88–89).
        He reviewed the operation order and SWAT addendum; he at-
        tended an operational brieﬁng that consisted of several presenta-
        tions displaying photographs of Riley and 3741 Landau Lane; and
        he selected a staging area and made tactical notes that considered
        the location and features of the target address.
               Additionally, the fact that the target address and Appellants’
        house share several conspicuous features demonstrates that
        Guerra’s execution of the warrant at the wrong house constituted
        an inadvertent mistake. Both houses are beige in color, located on
        a corner lot, have a large tree in the front, contain a stairwell to the
        front door, are split-level, and have a side-entry garage on a sepa-
        rate street that runs perpendicular to the front door. Further,
        Guerra and the SWAT team executed the warrant while it was still
        dark outside and diﬃcult to ascertain the house numbers on the
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        23-10062               Opinion of the Court                       13

        mailboxes. Guerra and the SWAT team had to enter a potentially
        dangerous situation to execute the warrant—the home of a violent
        gang member. Therefore, the decisions that Guerra made—albeit
        mistaken—in the rapidly-changing and dangerous situation of ex-
        ecuting a high-risk warrant at night constitute the kind of reasona-
        ble mistakes that the Fourth Amendment contemplates. See, e.g.,
        Heien v. North Carolina, 574 U.S. 54, 60–61 (2014) (“To be reasonable
        is not to be perfect, and so the Fourth Amendment allows for some
        mistakes on the part of government oﬃcials, giving them fair lee-
        way for enforcing the law in the community’s protection” (internal
        quotation marks and citation omitted));Willingham v. Loughnan, 321
        F.3d 1299, 1303 (11th Cir. 2003) (“Oﬃcers facing split-second deci-
        sions in dangerous or life-threatening situations are seldom pro-
        vided with fair warning, notice or guidance by a general require-
        ment of ‘reasonableness.’”).
               Guerra’s preparatory steps before executing the warrant
        complied with the FBI’s standard practices/procedures. The FBI
        aﬀords its agents discretion in preparing for warrant executions: it
        has no oﬃcial policy or practice with respect to how agents are to
        locate or navigate to the target address of a search warrant. Addi-
        tionally, while it is standard FBI practice to conduct a drive-by or
        site survey prior to executing a warrant, those preparatory steps
        are fact-speciﬁc and left to the agent’s discretion.
              In sum, based on the facts and circumstances of this case, we
        conclude that the law at the time did not clearly establish that
        Guerra’s preparatory steps before the warrant execution would
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        14                      Opinion of the Court                   23-10062

        violate the Fourth Amendment. Therefore, the district court did
        not err in granting qualiﬁed immunity.
                  B. The District Court Correctly Ruled that the Supremacy
                     Clause and the Discretionary Function Exception Bar Ap-
                     pellants’ FTCA Claims.
               Under the FTCA, a plaintiﬀ may “bring certain state-law
        torts against” the United States. Brownback v. King, 592 U.S. 209, 210
        (2021). The FTCA waives the federal government’s sovereign im-
        munity for the wrongful or negligent acts or omissions of its em-
        ployees if a private person, under the same circumstances, would
        be liable under the law of the state where the alleged act or omis-
        sion occurred. Swaﬀord v. United States, 839 F.3d 1365, 1369 (11th
        Cir. 2016) (citing 28 U.S.C. § 2674).
               However, the FTCA exempts from liability state-tort claims
        arising from a government oﬃcial’s performance of a duty or func-
        tion that involves discretion. Shivers v. United States, 1 F.4th 924, 928
        (11th Cir. 2021). The discretionary function exception to the
        FTCA’s waiver of sovereign immunity exists to “prevent judicial
        second guessing of . . . administrative decisions.” Id. (quoting
        United States v. Gaubert, 499 U.S. 315, 323 (1991)).
               To determine whether the discretionary function exception
        applies in a given circumstance, courts employ a two-factor test:
        they examine (1) whether the alleged act was discretionary in na-
        ture meaning that the act “involved an element of judgment or
        choice[;]” and (2) whether the act represented the kind of conduct
        “that the discretionary function exception was designed to shield.”
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        23-10062               Opinion of the Court                         15

        Swaﬀord, 839 F.3d at 1370 (ﬁrst citing Berkovitz ex rel. Berkovitz v.
        United States, 486 U.S. 531 (1988); and then citing Gaubert, 499 U.S.
        at 323). “The discretionary function exception applies unless a
        source of federal law ‘speciﬁcally prescribes’ a course of conduct.”
        Shivers, 1 F.4th at 931 (emphasis in original). The exception also
        applies irrespective of whether the government oﬃcial abused his
        discretion. Id. at 930 (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2680(a)).
               Similar to the discretionary function exception, the Suprem-
        acy Clause ensures that states do not impede or burden the execu-
        tion of federal law. Denson v. United States, 574 F.3d 1318, 1336–37
        (11th Cir. 2009). The government may invoke the Supremacy
        Clause against state-tort liability if it demonstrates that the govern-
        ment “oﬃcial’s acts have some nexus with furthering federal policy
        and can reasonably be characterized as complying with the full
        range of federal law.” Kordash, 51 F.4th at 1293 (internal quotation
        marks and citations omitted). A government oﬃcial’s acts bear
        “some nexus with furthering federal policy” if he acted within the
        scope of his discretionary authority. Id. at 1294. Similarly, a gov-
        ernment oﬃcial’s acts could “reasonably be characterized as com-
        plying with the full range of federal law” if his acts complied with
        the relevant constitutional standard—the Fourth Amendment. Id.
              When faced with the determination of whether the actions
        a law enforcement oﬃcer took comply with the Fourth Amend-
        ment, courts employ an “objective reasonableness” standard and
        consider whether “the facts available to the oﬃcer at the moment
        of the seizure or the search [make] a [person] of reasonable
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        16                     Opinion of the Court                23-10062

        caution . . . belie[ve] that the action taken was appropriate.” Croom
        v. Balkwill, 645 F.3d 1240, 1249 (11th Cir. 2011) (quoting Terry v.
        Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 21–22 (11th Cir. 1995)).
               We conclude that the discretionary function exception bars
        Appellants’ tort claims for trespass and interference with private
        property, negligent/intentional inﬂiction of emotional distress,
        and negligence. The government has satisﬁed both elements of the
        discretionary function exception. With respect to the ﬁrst prong,
        the record—viewed in the light most favorable to Appellants—
        evinces that Guerra enjoyed discretion in how he prepared for the
        warrant execution. As we previously explained, the FBI did not
        have stringent policies or procedures in place that dictate how
        agents are to prepare for warrant executions.
                Furthermore, the preparatory actions Guerra took before
        the warrant execution satisfy the second element of the discretion-
        ary function exception test. In Mesa v. United States, we explained
        that a federal oﬃcer’s “decision as to how to locate and identify the
        subject of an arrest warrant prior to service of the warrant is sus-
        ceptible to policy analysis.” 123 F.3d 1435, 1438 (11th Cir. 1997).
        Although it is unfortunate that despite his preparatory eﬀorts,
        Guerra executed the warrant at the wrong house, his actions, nev-
        ertheless, “fall squarely within the discretionary function excep-
        tion.” Shivers, 1 F.4th at 929.
              The Supremacy Clause bars Appellants’ remaining FTCA
        claims for false imprisonment and assault and battery. The district
        court initially denied summary judgment on Appellants’ false
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        23-10062              Opinion of the Court                      17

        imprisonment and assault and battery claims on grounds that the
        discretionary function exception could not defeat those claims be-
        cause under the FTCA’s private person standard, Georgia’s citizen’s
        arrest statute does not contemplate the good faith or reasonable-
        ness defenses that the government asserted. However, on the gov-
        ernment’s motion for reconsideration, the district court granted
        summary judgment on those claims, ﬁnding that our recent deci-
        sion in Kordash mandates dismissal of those claims.
               In Kordash, we clariﬁed that “the inquiry that determines if
        the Supremacy Clause bars state-law liability is whether a federal
        oﬃcial’s acts ‘have some nexus with furthering federal policy and
        can reasonably be characterized as complying with the full range
        of [the Fourth Amendment].’” 51 F.4th at 1293 (quoting Denson,
        574 F.3d at 1348). With respect to the ﬁrst element, there is no
        doubt that Guerra acted within the scope of his discretionary au-
        thority when he prepared for and executed the search warrant. The
        analysis we must conduct to examine whether Guerra complied
        with the full range of the Fourth Amendment is the same as the
        inquiry we employed in the qualiﬁed immunity analysis to deter-
        mine whether his actions violated the Fourth Amendment. See id.
        at 1294. As we already explained that Guerra’s actions did not vio-
        late the Fourth Amendment, the government has satisﬁed both el-
        ements of the Supremacy Clause analysis. Accordingly, the Su-
        premacy Clause bars Appellants’ FTCA claims for false imprison-
        ment and assault and battery.
USCA11 Case: 23-10062   Document: 33-1    Date Filed: 04/22/2024   Page: 18 of 18

        18                   Opinion of the Court             23-10062

        IV.   CONCLUSION
               For the reasons set forth above, we AFFIRM the district
        court’s grant of summary judgment based on qualiﬁed immunity
        in favor of Guerra and dismissal of the FTCA claims against the
        United States on the grounds that the Supremacy Clause and the
        discretionary function exception bar those claims.
              AFFIRMED.