[saurik]

If this were a normal door lock that someone possessed the master key to, the FBI would have just requested access to the master key temporarily. The FBI is not operating outside the law here: they have a court order. While in some ways it would be more horrific, I'd almost rather see them ask the more analogous question "we would like a copy of your master key" to see how Apple responds, as they'd no longer be able to pretend like it would take them a lot of time to build what the FBI wants: the FBI would just be asking for literally 512 bytes of data that Apple has that stands between them and their goal.

[acqq]

It's not just what FBI orders, it's the unprecedented legal basis for the order, All Writs which simply states that they can order whatever they want. ("Why?" "Just because!")

Which is very bad if it is accepted this time.