WASHINGTON — Calling a New York judge’s ruling “an unprecedented limitation” on judicial authority, the Justice Department asked a Brooklyn federal court Monday to reverse a decision that said Apple wasn’t required to pry open a locked iPhone.
The government’s 45-page brief comes a week after Magistrate Judge James Orenstein issued his decision in a routine drug case, dealing a blow to the Obama administration in its battle with the tech giant over privacy and public safety.
Government lawyers called their request routine, arguing that the case is not about asking Apple to do anything new, or to create a “master key” to access all iPhones.
Apple has opposed the government’s move in a separate case involving the shooter who killed 14 people Dec. 2 in San Bernardino, Calif.