United States v. Kevin McCall

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 1 of 26

[PUBLISH]

In the

United States Court of Appeals

For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 21-13092

____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

versus

KEVIN MCCALL,

Defendant-Appellant.

____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Southern District of Florida

D.C. Docket No. 0:20-cr-60100-KMW-1

____________________

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 2 of 26

2 Opinion of the Court 21-13092

Before ROSENBAUM, BRANCH, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges.

BRASHER, Circuit Judge:

This appeal requires us to decide how the exclusionary rule’s

good faith exception applies to the search of a cloud storage ac-

count. While losing in a high-stakes poker game, Kevin McCall al-

legedly used his cell phone to arrange an armed robbery to reclaim

his losses. Because a cell phone was directly tied to the crime, no

one disputes that there was probable cause to search that device.

But the police went one step further. They secured a warrant to

search an iCloud account that backed up the phone twelve hours

before the poker game and robbery. The iCloud warrant permitted

a search of almost all the account’s data with no time limitation.

Based on evidence secured by that warrant, the government pros-

ecuted and a jury convicted McCall of being a felon in possession

of a firearm.

Given the warrant’s breadth and the account’s indirect link

to the crime, McCall argues that the district court should have sup-

pressed the iCloud evidence for three reasons. First, he argues that

the warrant affidavit was so lacking in indicia of probable cause that

no reasonable officer would believe that he had probable cause to

search the iCloud account. Second, he argues that the warrant was

so facially deficient in its particularity that the executing officers

could not have reasonably presumed it to be valid. And third, as a

catchall, he argues that the warrant and its supporting affidavit

were so defective that the executing officer’s reliance on the war-

rant was objectively unreasonable.

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 3 of 26

21-13092 Opinion of the Court 3

Although Fourth Amendment standards are largely settled,

their application to developing areas of technology is not. Like

judges, law enforcement officers operating in good faith may strug-

gle to apply existing standards to new circumstances. That is where

the exclusionary rule’s good faith exception comes in. The govern-

ment concedes that the iCloud warrant fell short in certain re-

spects, but it argues that reasonable officers could have believed it

to be valid. We agree that the warrant was not so deficient in prob-

able cause, particularity, or otherwise that it would be unreasona-

ble for an officer to rely on it in good faith. Accordingly, we affirm.

I.

A.

Around midnight on April 11, 2020, McCall was playing

poker with four other men at a private residence. As the poker

game progressed, McCall began losing large sums of money. Be-

coming increasingly frustrated with his losses, he “made threats to

do something about it.” The group saw McCall “frantically using

his cell phone to make calls/texts to unknown persons,” and he

eventually “received a phone call and stepped outside,” explaining

that “he needed to take care of something.”

Soon after, there was a knock at the door. One of the poker

players saw McCall standing outside. But, when he opened the

door for McCall, two masked men wielding a rifle and a handgun

stormed inside. They ordered everyone to the ground and grabbed

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 4 of 26

4 Opinion of the Court 21-13092

the cell phones and cash on the poker table. The masked men shot

two of the poker players and escaped with the cash and cell phones.

Three days later, McCall was arrested on two counts of at-

tempted felony murder and four counts of armed robbery. Detec-

tive Keith Rosen applied for a warrant to search McCall’s iPhone.

In his supporting affidavit, the detective stated that, based on the

sworn statements of all the victims involved, he “had probable

cause to believe that McCall’s listed cell phone . . . was used to con-

tact the unidentified (masked) armed black male suspects and facil-

itate the offenses listed above.” He believed that a search of the cell

phone would help him “identify” the unknown gunmen. Although

a judge issued the cell phone warrant, it proved largely useless be-

cause the locked cell phone required a passcode that the detective

did not have. Still, the detective did manage to extract the name of

the iCloud account associated with the phone and the date and

time of the last data backup.

Based on that information, he applied for a warrant to search

McCall’s iCloud account. Along with the information provided in

the cell phone affidavit, the iCloud affidavit explained that the de-

tective “knows from law enforcement training and experience”

that Apple provides a backup record of an iCloud user’s data. He

acknowledged that the most recent backup of McCall’s cell phone

occurred about twelve hours before the poker game. But he ex-

plained that he “knows from law enforcement training and experi-

ence that criminal activity is often planned prior to the act and the

aforementioned data from the iCloud account may reveal relevant

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 5 of 26

21-13092 Opinion of the Court 5

witnesses and/or coconspirators to the offenses listed above, as

well as photos of items used in the incident (clothing, guns, cars).”

For example, internet searches could show the “planning or exe-

cuting” of the offenses, journal entries could confirm McCall’s “in-

tent, involvement or motive,” and notes could store the cell

phone’s passcode.

A judge issued the warrant and ordered a two-step process

for conducting the search. First, acknowledging that Apple had “no

reasonable means to distinguish evidence of the crimes from any

other records contained within the sought-after account,” the war-

rant ordered Apple to “provide the entirety of the [account] rec-

ords” to law enforcement. Second, the warrant required that offic-

ers receiving the data sort through it for evidence of the specified

crimes. The warrant authorized officers to search seven broad cat-

egories of data, essentially encompassing the entirety of McCall’s

iCloud account: the device’s registration information, its iCloud

data (including all email content, photos, documents, contacts, and

calendars), Find My iPhone data, communications records, iCloud

backup history, Facetime communication logs, and iTunes account

information.

Apple emailed the detective the iCloud backup data, which

spanned about two-and-a-half months leading up to the robbery.

Supervisor of the Digital Forensics Unit James KempVanEe then

processed the data, discovering photographs and videos of McCall,

a felon, holding a 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol. The photo-

graphs dated back to the month before the robbery. He flagged the

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 6 of 26

6 Opinion of the Court 21-13092

images for the detective, who then referred the case to federal of-

ficers.

B.

Based on the images recovered from the iCloud account,

McCall was charged with being a felon in possession of firearms

and ammunition in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He moved to

suppress the evidence seized from his iCloud account.

During the suppression hearing, Detective Rosen explained

his process for preparing the iCloud warrant application. He had

never prepared an application to search a cell phone or cloud ac-

count. So he modified a standard form application for that purpose.

Before submitting the application to the judge, he asked his super-

visor and an assistant state attorney to review the document. He

also consulted two other detectives and a forensics supervisor.

The detective testified that he hoped to uncover two kinds

of evidence by searching the iCloud account. First, he thought a

search could reveal the identities of the gunmen that McCall appar-

ently summoned with his cell phone during the poker game. Based

on the recovered shell casings, he determined that the gunmen

used 9-millimeter and .40-caliber guns, which he also hoped to

identify in photographs. He acknowledged that, because the most

recent iCloud backup occurred twelve hours before the incident,

the data covered by the warrant could not possibly include any calls

or text messages McCall sent or received during the poker game.

But he explained that, in his experience, crimes are often planned

in advance using cell phones. There was thus a “distinct possibility”

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 7 of 26

21-13092 Opinion of the Court 7

that McCall had communicated with the gunmen before that even-

ing. Second, the detective explained that people often store iPhone

passcodes in their notes or photographs. So he believed the iCloud

search could reveal information allowing officers to unlock the cell

phone.

Forensics supervisor KempVanEe also testified at the sup-

pression hearing, describing how he is able to filter electronic data

in certain ways, such as limiting the production of data to commu-

nications, messages, and phone calls. He could also “possibly” re-

duce the production of communications to only “a certain time pe-

riod.” Compared to most iCloud searches, the supervisor stated

there was comparatively little communications and photographic

data in McCall’s iCloud account. He explained that the warrant at

issue looked much like the fifty or so iCloud warrants he had pro-

cessed before and that he had “[no] reason to believe there was not

probable cause for the execution of the warrant.” He explained

that, although he seeks to educate officers on proper electronic

search protocols, “technology is constantly changing.”

The district court denied McCall’s motion to suppress. The

court concluded that the iCloud warrant was invalid because, even

though it was supported by probable cause, it lacked sufficient par-

ticularity. Still, the court explained that “this is clearly an evolving

area of the law,” and determined that the good faith exception to

the exclusionary rule applied. McCall conditionally pleaded guilty

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 8 of 26

8 Opinion of the Court 21-13092

and was sentenced to 27 months’ imprisonment. His plea agree-

ment preserved his right to appeal the suppression decision, and he

timely filed a notice of appeal.

II.

A district court’s denial of a suppression motion raises a

“mixed question of law and fact.” United States v. Blake, 868 F.3d

960, 973 (11th Cir. 2017) (quotation omitted). “We review de novo

whether the good faith exception applies,” but we review “the un-

derlying facts upon which that determination is based” for clear er-

ror. United States v. Morales, 987 F.3d 966, 974 (11th Cir.), cert. de-

nied, 142 S. Ct. 500 (2021) (quotation omitted).

III.

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

requires that “no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,

supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the

place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” U.S.

Const. amend. IV. It is silent, however, on the proper remedy

when its probable cause or particularity requirements are violated.

Morales, 987 F.3d at 972. In part to provide a remedy, the Supreme

Court created the exclusionary rule, which generally prohibits the

government from relying on evidence obtained in violation of the

Fourth Amendment. See United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897 (1984).

In practice, however, the exclusionary rule applies in only

“unusual cases.” Id. at 918. This remedy “exacts a heavy toll on

both the judicial system and society at large” because “[i]t almost

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 9 of 26

21-13092 Opinion of the Court 9

always requires courts to ignore reliable, trustworthy evidence.”

Davis v. United States, 564 U.S. 229, 231, 237 (2011). It is therefore

limited to situations in which the threat of its application can deter

future violations. Herring v. United States, 555 U.S. 135, 139–41

(2009). Because good-faith mistakes cannot be deterred, the exclu-

sionary rule applies only if “the police exhibit deliberate, reckless,

or grossly negligent disregard for Fourth Amendment rights.” Da-

vis, 564 U.S. at 238. In “doubtful or marginal cases,” suppression is

inappropriate. United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 109 (1965).

Consistent with the rule’s objective of future deterrence, the

Supreme Court carved out a “good faith exception” to the exclu-

sionary rule. Leon, 468 U.S. at 908. “[W]e have observed that alt-

hough good faith is most often framed as an exception to the ex-

clusionary rule, it is probably more accurately described as a reason

for declining to invoke the exclusionary rule in the first place.”

United States v. Campbell, 26 F.4th 860, 870 n.5 (11th Cir.) (en banc),

cert. denied 143 S. Ct. 95 (2022) (quotation omitted). “[W]hen law

enforcement officers have acted in objective good faith or their

transgressions have been minor, the magnitude of the benefit con-

ferred on such guilty defendants offends basic concepts of the crim-

inal justice system.” Leon, 468 U.S. at 908.

This “exception” has special relevance when officers act pur-

suant to a warrant. “In the ordinary case, an officer cannot be ex-

pected to question” a judge’s decision that the requirements for a

warrant have been satisfied or that the form of the warrant is suffi-

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 10 of 26

10 Opinion of the Court 21-13092

cient. Id. at 921. Therefore, suppressing evidence discovered pur-

suant to a warrant generally “cannot logically contribute to . . . de-

terrence.” Id.

Nonetheless, there are circumstances when the good faith

exception will not apply. Even if an officer relies on a warrant in

subjective good faith, an officer’s reliance must be objectively rea-

sonable. Morales, 987 F.3d at 974 (quoting United States v. Martin,

297 F.3d 1308, 1318 (11th Cir. 2002)). The good faith exception can-

not save a search if the warrant was “based on an affidavit ‘so lack-

ing in indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its ex-

istence entirely unreasonable.’” Leon, 468 U.S. at 923 (quoting

Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590, 610–11 (1975) (Powell, J., concurring

in part)). It likewise does not apply when a warrant is “so facially

deficient—i.e., in failing to particularize the place to be searched or

things to be seized—that the executing officers cannot reasonably

presume it to be valid.” Id.

McCall does not contest that the officers relied on the war-

rant in subjective good faith—he does not argue, for example, that

anyone lied to get the warrant. Instead, he argues that the officers’

reliance on the warrant was not objectively reasonable in three

ways. First, he contends that the iCloud affidavit was so lacking in

indicia of probable cause that official belief in its existence was un-

reasonable. Specifically, McCall argues that because there was no

sign that evidence of the robbery would be on the account, and the

data was last backed up hours before the crime, it was unreasona-

ble for Detective Rosen to believe the affidavit established probable

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 11 of 26

21-13092 Opinion of the Court 11

cause to search the account. Second, he argues that the warrant

was so facially deficient in its particularity that the executing offic-

ers could not have reasonably presumed it to be valid. Because the

warrant requested all data, unbound by subject matter or date,

McCall argues that no reasonable officer would believe the warrant

was sufficiently particular. Third, as a catchall, he argues that the

circumstances of the warrant and search establish that a well-

trained officer would have known the search was unconstitutional

despite the judge’s approval.

Before diving into McCall’s arguments, it’s worth noting at

the outset that technology moves quickly, the law moves slowly,

and the combination can leave law enforcement officers with little

insight on how to investigate a cloud account. We will assume

without deciding that law enforcement must secure a warrant be-

fore searching an iCloud account that is held by a third party. See

Carpenter v. United States, 138 S. Ct. 2206 (2018). Even so, when

asked to review searches for cloud data, courts have approached

issues of probable cause and particularity in different ways. See Jon-

athan Mayer, Government Hacking, 127 Yale L. J. 570, 620–21 (2018).

Because courts struggle to decide how probable cause and particu-

larity apply to the information that law enforcement collects from

a cloud account, it is unsurprising that police officers might strug-

gle as well. It is against this backdrop that we consider McCall’s

position that the officers were not justified in relying on this war-

rant to search the iCloud account.

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 12 of 26

12 Opinion of the Court 21-13092

A.

We will start with McCall’s argument that the warrant was

based on an affidavit that so obviously lacked probable cause that

the officers could not have reasonably relied on it. Probable cause

requires “a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime

will be found in a particular place.” Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213,

238 (1983). It is not a mathematical standard—it is a “practical, non-

technical conception” based on “the factual and practical consider-

ations of everyday life on which reasonable and prudent men, not

legal technicians, act.” Id. at 231 (quotations omitted). Courts give

a “commonsense” rather than “hypertechnical” reading to search

warrant applications when reviewing probable cause. Id. at 236.

And we “give great deference to a lower court’s determination of

probable cause.” United States v. Carroll, 886 F.3d 1347, 1351 (11th

Cir. 2018) (quoting United States v. Bradley, 644 F.3d 1213, 1263

(11th Cir. 2011)).

The parties dispute whether there was actual probable cause

to search McCall’s iCloud account. McCall contends the affidavit

lacked any indication that officers would find evidence of the rob-

bery on the iCloud account. Accordingly, the affidavit failed to link

the iCloud account to the crime under investigation. The govern-

ment responds that it was reasonable to believe the iCloud account

would contain evidence of the robbery. Because conversations and

images on the iCloud account could identify the gunmen, the gov-

ernment argues that a search of the account would likely provide

leads to law enforcement.

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 13 of 26

21-13092 Opinion of the Court 13

We need not decide whether the iCloud warrant violated

the Fourth Amendment. Even if it did, the good faith exception ap-

plies to close calls and threshold cases. Messerschmidt v. Millender,

565 U.S. 535, 556 (2012). We will therefore assume, without decid-

ing, that the detective lacked probable cause to search McCall’s

iCloud account. The question before us now is whether the defects

in the affidavit were so obvious that the good faith exception

should not apply. That is, McCall must establish that the iCloud

warrant is “based on an affidavit ‘so lacking in indicia of probable

cause as to render official belief in its existence entirely unreasona-

ble.’” Leon, 468 U.S. at 923 (quotation omitted).

We look only to the face of the affidavit to determine

whether it lacked sufficient indicia of probable cause. United States

v. Robinson, 336 F.3d 1293, 1296 (11th Cir. 2003). To exclude evi-

dence on this ground, the affidavit must be so clearly insufficient

“that it provided ‘no hint’ as to why police believed they would find

incriminating evidence.” Morales, 987 F.3d at 976. There is a “sound

presumption that the [judge] is more qualified than the police of-

ficer to make a probable cause determination.” Malley v. Briggs, 475

U.S. 335, 346 n.9 (1986) (quotations omitted). Accordingly, the of-

ficer’s judgment must be more than just “mistaken”—it must be so

“plainly incompetent,” Messerschmidt, 565 U.S. at 553, that “no of-

ficer of reasonable competence would have requested the war-

rant,” Malley, 475 U.S. at 346 n.9.

We cannot say McCall has met this standard. The affidavit

supporting the iCloud warrant provides an obvious link between

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 14 of 26

14 Opinion of the Court 21-13092

McCall’s cell phone and the crime. The affidavit explains that the

four victims gave sworn statements to law enforcement that

McCall became increasingly angry and threatened to “do some-

thing” about his mounting losses. The victims told law enforce-

ment that, after making that threat, McCall “frantically” used his

cell phone to communicate with some “unknown persons” until

he eventually “stepped outside” to “take care of something.” After

McCall knocked on the door, masked gunmen rushed into the res-

idence, shot two poker players, and stole cash and phones. The af-

fidavit therefore supplies sufficient indicia of probable cause that

McCall used his cell phone to arrange the robbery and that the

phone contained information that would identify the gunmen.

Given the established link between the cell phone and the

crime, the affidavit also ties the cell phone’s associated iCloud ac-

count to the crime. The affidavit explains that although the cell

phone’s passcode thwarted a full search, law enforcement found an

iCloud storage account associated with the device. The affidavit

told the judge that Apple’s default iCloud service automatically

backs up data from Apple devices, including messages and images

on a cell phone. It disclosed that the last data backup occurred

twelve hours before the poker game. But the affidavit relied on the

detective’s “law enforcement training and experience that criminal

activity is often planned prior to the act.”

McCall argues that the link between the iCloud account and

crime is obviously too attenuated because the iCloud account was

backed up twelve hours before the crime occurred. We disagree. If

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 15 of 26

21-13092 Opinion of the Court 15

there is probable cause to believe that McCall summoned the gun-

men to the scene to commit a robbery, then there is probable cause

to believe that he had a preexisting relationship with them. It is not

unreasonable to believe that such a relationship would be reflected

in the data stored in his iCloud account. “Cell phones have become

important tools in facilitating coordination and communication

among members of criminal enterprises, and can provide valuable

incriminating information about dangerous criminals.” Riley v. Cal-

ifornia, 573 U.S. 373, 401 (2014). Despite the twelve-hour delay, the

affidavit provides reason to suspect that the communications data

in McCall’s iCloud account would help reveal the gunmen’s iden-

tities.

McCall also argues that, even if the affidavit provided suffi-

cient indicia of probable cause to search his iCloud data for com-

munications, there were not similarly sufficient indicia of probable

cause to search other categories of data as well. But, if McCall had

a preexisting relationship with the gunmen, law enforcement had

good reason to search for more than just communications. Photo-

graphs or videos could contain images of the men or the items used

in the crime, such as the firearms or masks. And the affidavit ex-

plained that, based on the investigator’s experience, the iCloud ac-

count could also have information about the phone’s password.

Moreover, “[c]ommunications stored in the cloud can take a wide

variety of forms, including text messages, email, photos, videos,

files, browsing history, phone backups, and more.” Ian Walsh, Re-

vising Reasonableness in the Cloud, 96 Wash. L. Rev. 343, 367–68

(2021). For example, people take screenshots of text messages or

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 16 of 26

16 Opinion of the Court 21-13092

use applications to send and save photographs with communica-

tive text captions typed over an image. So, if law enforcement of-

ficers have a good reason to search for communications, they may

be justified in reviewing more than just emails and text messages.

Finally, we have identified probable cause for an electronic

search in similar circumstances. In United States v. Blake, officers

identified an email address posting ads for prostitution services and

located the email’s associated Facebook account. 868 F.3d at 966.

Because the Facebook page listed the defendant’s occupation as

“Boss Lady at Tricks R Us,” officers obtained search warrants to

search “virtually every type of data that could be located in a Face-

book account.” Id. (alteration adopted). We approved the search.

We reasoned that the listed occupation “Boss Lady” linked the de-

fendant’s account to the criminal conspiracy, giving investigators

“probable cause to believe that evidence of her participation would

be found in her Facebook account.” Id. at 973.

The affidavit linking McCall’s cell phone to his cloud ac-

count is like the link investigators made in Blake. As in Blake, the

investigators here had a logical process when connecting the al-

leged crime to the searchable data. That is, they had probable cause

to believe that McCall used his phone to organize the crime, and

his iCloud account backed up that phone’s data. We recognize that

there are factual differences between the two cases—in Blake, there

was an ongoing conspiracy, whereas the robbery appeared to be a

one-off event. But the connection between McCall’s iCloud ac-

count and the cell phone used to facilitate the robbery is at least as

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 17 of 26

21-13092 Opinion of the Court 17

strong as the link between the Blake defendant’s Facebook account

and the prostitution conspiracy. Id. At the very least, the similarities

between these two cases are enough to conclude that any defects

in probable cause were not obvious enough to negate the good

faith exception.

We cannot say that the absence of probable cause in the

iCloud affidavit—assuming there was such an absence—is so obvi-

ous that an officer could not reasonably rely on the warrant.

B.

We turn now to whether the warrant identified the items to

be searched and seized with sufficient particularity. The Fourth

Amendment requires a warrant to “particularly” describe “the

place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” U.S.

Const. amend. IV. The Fourth Amendment’s particularity require-

ment sought to remedy the evils of the “general warrant,” which

permitted officers’ exploratory rummaging in colonial America.

Blake, 868 F.3d at 973; see also Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S.

443, 467 (1971) (explaining that particularity does not guard against

“intrusion per se,” but against “a general, exploratory rummaging

in a person’s belongings”). Still, the requirement must “be applied

with a practical margin of flexibility, depending on the type of prop-

erty to be seized,” and the property description need only be “as

specific as the circumstances and nature of activity under investiga-

tion permit.” United States v. Wuagneux, 683 F.2d 1343, 1349 (11th

Cir. 1982). A warrant does not have to be elaborate. Carroll, 886

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 18 of 26

18 Opinion of the Court 21-13092

F.3d at 1351. Rather, it need only be as narrow as reasonably ex-

pected “given the state of the [investigator’s] knowledge . . . and

the nature and extent of criminal activities under investigation.”

Wuagneux, 683 F.2d at 1350.

Although it isn’t clear how an iCloud warrant should iden-

tify the target of the search with particularity, see, e.g., Walsh, Re-

vising Reasonableness, 96 Wash. L. Rev. at 358, there are generally

two types of limitations that can particularize such a warrant. The

first is narrowing the search based on the subject matter of the data.

For example, a warrant may limit investigators’ search of commu-

nications data to only communications with known or suspected

co-conspirators. See Blake, 868 F.3d at 974. The second is a temporal

limitation. Officers can narrow their search by requesting data only

for the time when an individual is suspected of planning or partici-

pating in criminal activity. Id.

Of course, a subject-based limitation may not mean a cate-

gory-based limitation. For example, a warrant limiting a search to

communications between a suspect and his coconspirator—a sub-

ject-based limitation—does not require that the only categories of

searchable data be instant messages or emails. As we’ve already

said, communications between individuals may be stored in vari-

ous data formats, including voice memos, shared notes folders, or

screenshots of prior conversations in an images folder. Criminals

may even change file extensions or otherwise hide files in a format

different from their native format. See Aaron J. Gold, Obscured by

Clouds: The Fourth Amendment and Searching Cloud Storage Accounts

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 19 of 26

21-13092 Opinion of the Court 19

Through Locally Installed Software, 56 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 2321,

2328–29 (2015) (explaining that limiting searches to only certain file

types “might not be feasible given the realities of digital storage”).

Because the same content can be stored in so many different

formats, a subject-based limitation may sometimes be so broad as

to be meaningless. As a practical matter, “it will often be impossible

to . . . separate relevant files or documents before the search takes

place, because officers cannot readily anticipate how a suspect will

store information related to the charged crimes.” United States v.

Ulbricht, 858 F.3d 71, 102 (2d Cir. 2017). The warrant here is a good

example. The warrant authorized a search of seven categories of

data: the phone’s registration information, its iCloud data (includ-

ing all email content, photos, documents, contacts, and calendars),

Find My iPhone data, communications records, iCloud backup his-

tory, Facetime communication logs, and iTunes account infor-

mation. But those categories are so broad as to allow investigators

to review practically all conceivable content on the cloud account.

Thus, despite a putative limitation, the warrant required Apple to

turn over the entirety of the account’s information.

Given these considerations, we think the preferred method

of limiting the scope of a search warrant for a cloud account will

usually be time-based. By narrowing a search to the data created or

uploaded during a relevant time connected to the crime being in-

vestigated, officers can particularize their searches to avoid general

rummaging. Cloud or data-based warrants with a sufficiently tai-

lored time-based limitation can undermine any claim that they are

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 20 of 26

20 Opinion of the Court 21-13092

the “internet-era version of a ‘general warrant.’” Blake, 868 F.3d at

974. And because data is often created or uploaded at an ascertain-

able date and time, it will usually be possible to segregate that data

before conducting a search. Of course, the circumstances of an in-

vestigation may not require any subject- or time-limitation on a

cloud warrant or may require that a sufficiently particular warrant

include a subject-matter limitation. But in the mine run of cases,

we think a time-based limitation will be both practical and protec-

tive of privacy interests.

The government concedes that the warrant here fell short

of the particularity requirement because it allowed a search of all

the conceivable data on the account without any meaningful limi-

tation. Accordingly, we will assume the warrant was overbroad.

The issue we must decide then “is whether the good faith excep-

tion applies in this case to excuse the unconstitutionally over broad

warrant.” United States v. Travers, 233 F.3d 1327, 1330 (11th Cir.

2000).

McCall argues that the warrant was “so facially deficient” in

particularizing the places to be searched or things to be seized that

the detective could not have “reasonably presume[d] it to be valid.”

Leon, 468 U.S. at 923. We disagree. Even though there was no facial

time limit, McCall’s iCloud account stored data for only a two-and-

a-half-month period at the time of the search. Any temporal limita-

tion that satisfied the particularity requirement likely would have

covered that amount of time. The warrant likewise specified seven

categories of data that officers were allowed to search, which was

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 21 of 26

21-13092 Opinion of the Court 21

tailored to the specific crime under investigation. Of course, those

categories encompassed most of the account’s conceivable data.

But we do not suppress evidence on overbreadth grounds if the

warrant “adequately conveys its parameters.” United States v. Del-

gado, 981 F.3d 889, 899 (11th Cir. 2020). The detective reasonably

could have believed that the seven categories of iCloud infor-

mation fell within the practical margin of flexibility for his broad

investigative task, especially given the close connection between

the cell phone used to commit the crime and the cloud account. See

Wuagneux, 683 F.2d at 1349.

Given the nature of the search, the connection between the

crime and the cloud account, and the likelihood of a preexisting

relationship between McCall and the gunmen, investigators rea-

sonably presumed that the warrant was valid. See Leon, 468 U.S. at

923. Even if the warrant violated the particularity requirement, it

was not so “facially deficient” that the officers could not have rea-

sonably relied on it when executing their iCloud search.

C.

Having rejected McCall’s arguments about probable cause

and particularity on the face of the affidavit and warrant, we turn

to McCall’s argument that the detective’s reliance on the warrant

was objectively unreasonable because of the surrounding circum-

stances. Morales, 987 F.3d at 976.

We have held that “[i]n all but the most unusual circum-

stances, it is objectively reasonable for a law enforcement officer to

rely on a court order.” United States v. Stowers, 32 F.4th 1054, 1067

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 22 of 26

22 Opinion of the Court 21-13092

(11th Cir. 2022); see also Robinson, 336 F.3d at 1295. After all, in most

cases, officers “cannot be expected to question” a court’s “judg-

ment that the form of the warrant is technically sufficient.” Leon,

468 U.S. at 921. Nonetheless, if the circumstances of the warrant

establish that “a reasonably well-trained officer would know that

the warrant was illegal despite the [judge’s] authorization,” we

must conclude that the detective acted unreasonably. Martin, 297

F.3d at 1318. In answering this question, we may review “the entire

record,” including information that was not before the magistrate

or judge. Morales, 987 F.3d at 976.

Applying this standard to the facts here, we cannot say the

detective’s reliance on the iCloud warrant was objectively unrea-

sonable. Before acting on the warrant, he received approval from

several other individuals, including lawyers, that it passed factual

and constitutional muster. See Messerschmidt, 565 U.S. at 554

(“[T]hat the officer[] sought and obtained approval of the warrant

application from a superior and a deputy district attorney before

submitting it to the Magistrate provides further support for the

conclusion that an officer could reasonably have believed that the

scope of the warrant was supported by probable cause.”). The de-

tective’s additional steps “are indicative of objective good faith.”

United States v. Taxacher, 902 F.2d 867, 872 (11th Cir. 1990). And

there was no reason to think that the judge’s approval of the war-

rant was unusual or suspect. The supervisor of the digital forensics

unit testified that the iCloud warrant looked like many other cloud

warrants he had reviewed throughout his career, leading him to

believe there was no reason to think it was invalid. Cf. Stowers, 32

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 23 of 26

21-13092 Opinion of the Court 23

F.4th at 1068–69 (reliance was reasonable in part because language

in a challenged wiretap order was standard, giving no cause to be-

lieve it was wrong). Additionally, the iCloud warrant derived from

the cell phone warrant, which indisputably satisfied Fourth

Amendment standards. Even assuming probable cause or particu-

larity was lacking, the error was not so obvious that any reasonably

well-trained officer would question the validity of the warrant.

IV.

The district court is AFFIRMED.

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 24 of 26

21-13092 ROSENBAUM, J., Concurring 1

ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judge, Concurring:

I concur in nearly all of the well-reasoned panel opinion. I

write separately to comment on the panel opinion’s conclusion

that “in the mine run of cases, . . . a time-based limitation will be

both practical and protective of privacy interests.” Maj. Op. at 20.

I appreciate the panel opinion’s effort to identify a general rule. But

though general rules are helpful when they’re possible, I just don’t

think the issue here is that simple.

The Warrants Clause of the Fourth Amendment ensures,

among other things, that “no Warrants shall issue, but [those] . . .

particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or

things to be seized.” U.S. Const. amend. IV. The Supreme Court

has noted that the “manifest purpose of this particularity require-

ment was to prevent general searches.” Maryland v. Garrison, 480

U.S. 79, 84 (1987); see also Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443,

467 (1971) (identifying the “specific evil” against which the Fourth

Amendment’s particularity requirement guards as “the ‘general

warrant’ abhorred by the colonists,” which permitted “a general,

exploratory rummaging in a person’s belongings”). As the Court

has explained, the Framers wanted to ensure that “wide-ranging

exploratory searches” did not occur. Garrison, 480 U.S. at 84. In

furtherance of that objective, the particularity requirement “pre-

vents the seizure of one thing under a warrant describing another.”

Marron v. United States, 275 U.S. 192, 196 (1927).

Given the purposes of the Fourth Amendment’s particular-

ity requirement, it’s not surprising that we’ve said that a warrant’s

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 25 of 26

2 ROSENBAUM, J., Concurring 21-13092

description of the things to be searched and seized “is sufficiently

particular when it enables the searcher to reasonably ascertain and

identify the things authorized to be seized.” United States v.

Wuagneux, 683 F.2d 1343, 1348 (11th Cir. 1982). Still, though, we

apply the particularity requirement “with a practical margin of flex-

ibility, depending on the type of property to be seized.” Id. at 1349.

So “a description of property will be acceptable if it is as spe-

cific as the circumstances and nature of activity under investigation

permit.” Id. And right there, we have the guiding principle for as-

sessing whether a warrant contains a sufficiently particularized de-

scription of the things to be searched and seized.

To be sure, cloud searches, like other electronic searches,

present particularity challenges unique to the digital realm. But at

the very least, particularity’s guiding principle requires a warrant

to be as specific as possible when it comes to identifying the things

to be searched. And we can’t accomplish that if we artificially de-

termine beforehand that a single criterion—say, the inclusion of a

time period in a warrant—means the warrant satisfies the particu-

larity requirement. Of course, often, including a time period will

be necessary.

But including a time period doesn’t relieve a warrant from

otherwise having to particularly describe the things to be searched

and seized to the extent possible. When it comes to electronic data,

a warrant should also describe the categories of evidence it seeks—

for instance, photographs, communications, and records (if appli-

cable). And it should identify what subject matter those categories

USCA11 Case: 21-13092 Document: 57-1 Date Filed: 10/27/2023 Page: 26 of 26

21-13092 ROSENBAUM, J., Concurring 3

of evidence must pertain to. A warrant should also specify any

other characteristics of the particular evidence sought that are pos-

sible to identify and describe. In short, if we apply the guiding prin-

ciple, it will be a rare circumstance when specifying only a

timeframe will suffice.