[odawg]

“What most people are missing is what the government is obfuscating by choosing the phone of a dead perp. Ordering the unlocking of a phone can be done by tossing the owner in jail provided there is sufficient evidence of wrong doing to do so. If there is not sufficient evidence then the phone stays locked.”

I have no clue what you mean. The “dead perp” murdered about thirteen people. There is sufficient evidence, obviously, to warrant a search of his phone. It WILL contain evidence to help save lives.

“Specifically the one or two suspects that might be pulled from that phone are swamped by the next 1000 “lone wolf” terrorists”

And the few hundred people SAVED by the info from that particular phone would probably be grateful.

[palmer]

It's very simple. A live perp with sufficient evidence of plotting, planning, preparation for terrorism can be detained until they give up everything in their heads including the phone pass code. A dead perp is a poor example of that and makes a bad precedent because it is too rare, therefore not useful in the big picture.

nd the few hundred people SAVED by the info from that particular phone

Speculative at best. These people were known by relatives and neighbors to be potentially threatening. The next lone wolf and wife will have to be turned in by the same, it won't come out of this phone.