This is one of those times I really wish we had a functioning legislative branch.  They could write and pass a law describing companies&#x27; obligations and law enforcement&#x27;s powers when dealing with strong encryption on smartphones.  Then people who disagreed could take it to the courts, and a Supreme Court with an odd number of justices could decide whether said law was constitutional.<p>Unfortunately we do not live in that world, so we get to creatively interpret centuries-old laws written by people who could not have imagined encrypted smartphones.  And that interpretation may end up at an evenly-divided Supreme Court.