Lynch Defends FBI Stance in Fight With Apple Over Suspect's Data
- U.S. attorney general testifies Wednesday before lawmakers
- Lynch cites legal precedent in bid for company help with phone
Loretta Lynch, U.S. attorney general, speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington on Nov. 17, 2015.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch defended the U.S. government’s insistence that Apple Inc. comply with a judge’s order to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers, saying there’s ample legal precedent for requiring third parties to aid a search for evidence.
“If the government needs the assistance of third parties to ensure that search is actually conducted, judges all over the country and on the Supreme Court have said that those parties must assist if it is reasonably within their power to do so,” Lynch said in prepared for delivery at a House subcommittee hearing on the Justice Department’s budget.