All Writs Act 'Vital' To Compel Apple To Obey Court Order To Unlock iPhone, Argues DOJ

The court order forcing Apple to help the FBI unlock an iPhone 5C used by a gunman in the California mass shooting in December applies only to that phone and "does not compel [the company] to unlock other iPhones or to give the government a universal 'master key' or 'back door,'" argued DOJ lawyers in a 35-page filing Thursday countering Apple's motion to dismiss the case (see 1603020061). The lawyers said the All Writs Act (AWA), which the government is applying in the court order, isn't "dusty and forgotten" as Apple has described it, but "vital" to the U.S. legal system and "regularly invoked." They said the Supreme Court rejected similar policy arguments in 1977's U.S. vs. New York Telephone that Apple now raises: "that the AWA could not be read so broadly; that it was for Congress to decide whether to provide such authority; and that relying on the AWA was a dangerous step down a slippery slope ending in arbitrary police powers." DOJ lawyers said "fears have proved unfounded" in the 40 years since that decision. The order instructs Apple to create "a narrow, targeted piece of software" for just that one iPhone within the company's own secure headquarters, the lawyers said (see 1603010013). Justice said the device is owned by the County of San Bernardino, which is where the shooting took place, and was used by "now-dead terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook, who also consented to its being searched as part of his employment agreement with the County. In short, the Order invades no one's privacy and raises no Fourth Amendment concerns."