Consider this: If the DOJ forces Apple to create a new method to access this data in JUST this case, more than one Apple employee will need to be intimately familiar with it. It will need to be well documented, and protected by the very same US Federal Government privacy and security rules and regulations the DOJ is asking Apple to breach (think HIPAA, etc). Cool, Apple can do that, they have been more than helpful putting policies and procedures in place to accommodate government access legally from day one.
(The original post contained a link to my complete article on LinkedIn, but those posts no longer exist.)