That's simply not true. Businesses of all stripes are conscripted all the time to gather data and turn it over to law enforcement. The government has very wide latitude in this area.
Gather data, which Apple already does and provides. Not write wholesale operating systems, sign them, and maintain them for only the government to use.
You make it sound like Apple is being asked to put a man on the moon. They're being asked to comment out a few lines of code and recompile. Apple's objections have nothing to do with the volume or difficulty of work.
