Tim Cook Says He's Ready To Take iPhone Case to the Supreme Court

Apple CEO Tim Cook says he is ready to take the San Bernardino iPhone case all the way to the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

When asked by ABC "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir about taking the case to the Supreme Court, Cook answered "we would be prepared to take this issue all the way."

Cook also says in the interview with Muir that he believes complying with a court order to help the FBI break into an iPhone belonging to Syed Rizwan Farook would be "bad for America," and set a legal precedent that would offend many Americans.

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The New York Times also reported on Wednesday that Apple engineers are working on revamping its security features on its iPhones so that even Apple themselves cannot crack its encryptions. In older iPhones, as in the case with Farook's, the F.B.I. wanted to force Apple to write and install new iOS software that strips away several security features to facilitate its hacking. With new vulnerabilities in iPhones coming to light, Apple wants the fix for future models. Cook also pointed fingers at the Obama administration, saying there should have been more dialogue before the U.S. Justice Department turned to a magistrate judge in California for a court order last week to compel Apple to cooperate.

"We found out about the filing from the press, and I don't think that's the way the railroad should be run, and I don't think that something so important to this country should be handled in this way," Cook says.

Cook says the government was asking for "the software equivalent of cancer" with its demands of creating a backdoors to encryption—even if it is just this once, as the White House says. He also plans to talk to President Obama to get the legal battle back "on a better path."