I understand the situation. The issue is that the tool does not currently exist. They want Apple to create a version of iOS that eliminates certain crucial security features of the iphone - namely, the features that (1) wipe the phone upon ten incorrect password attempts, (2) prevent password attempts by any means other than the phone's touch screen, and (3) imposing a series of time delays for incorrect password attempts (leading up to the tenth attempt, which wipes the phone). The purpose of eliminating these features would be to enable the feds to use brute force techniques to unlock the phone.
The problem (as I and others have explained repeatedly) is that the moment Apple creates this version of iOS (which, again, does not currently exist), the feds will know that they have done so. So, the next time the feds want to unlock a phone--be it for a terrorist, a drug dealer, a white collar criminal or a rancher--they will simply tell a judge about the version of iOS that Apple has created, and ask the judge to require Apple to use that software to open the phone.
The idea that this is a one time thing, and that the feds would just forget that Apple can do this the next time, is simply preposterous.
And fine, Apple would challenge up to the USSC.
We should be dealing with issues of what. Not of how.