The world will not collapse if Apple is forced to open up this terrorist's phone. (Which actually belongs to San Bernidino County) It was accomplished through a writ issued by a Federal Judge, and unless the appeals court has a good legal argument as to why it should not be complied with, I am going to side with the Judge in this matter.
Apple is not above the law.
How is it a histrionic assertion to point out that Apple is being ordered to create something that doesn't yet exist? Do you even grasp the problem here? THERE IS NO KEY. It's one thing to have to produce a key, it's another thing to have to create an entirely new safe with a back door to be installed in place of the locked one. Who pays for that work? What happens to it afterwards?
Apple should sure the crap out of the government and demand, at the very least, a billion dollars in development costs. You think software grows on trees? People MAKE it.