Yeah im still confused on how Apple is able to say no in the first place...

1) the phone was actually government property who gave the FBI permission to search it
2) A judge issued a warrant to search the phone in relation to the case
3) Phones are broken into all the time to aid in cases where there is a legal warrant. Fundamentally, how is this any different?

Actually Apple's ability to fight this is simple. Local police have used Stingray illegally to tap our phones. The CIA has illegally tapped our phones. The FBI has illegally tapped our phones and computers. The NSA has illegally tapped our phones and computers. The NSA and CIA take things that extra step because its actually illegal for them to spy on US citizens in the first place.

Apple builds security in their device that stops criminals. All of those organizations are proven criminals. They want Apple to provide them with the tools to commit further crimes. They may be breaking a lock to save someone from a burning building this time, but they'll them use that knowledge to steal again several million times.

Apple needs to stand strong. Our government has turned into everything it claims to be protecting us from. It can torture us, it can disappear us and it can kill us. And doesn't have to explain why to anyone. They already have done all of those things many times and can be found on video saying they have the right to. We had Saddam Hussein hanged because he was hurting his people. We have since been doing everything he was accused of. Why, because they say these Americans are our enemies. Saddam said the same thing about the people he tortured and murdered.

We are talking about Apple creating a tool the FBI can and will undoubtedly use in the future far outside the scope of just terrorism. The terrorists are indeed laughing as their actions further shape us into a police state. They know they can't topple us with force, but with fear they can change us. It's not about this one murderers privacy, it's about EVERYONE'S privacy.