"The government" as such is not involved here. I'm not going to pretend the separation of powers is as clean cut as what one learns in school, but first and for

"The government" as such is not involved here. I'm not going to pretend the separation of powers is as clean cut as what one learns in school, but first and foremost this is a ruling of a single and independent judge that the defendant is challenging. I fail to see any motivation for the judge to back down on his contempt of court order. I fail to see any motivation for the prosecution to try to continue the trial faster without the drives (which would be a much weaker case). Just because they are good people and have any problem with somebody they believe to be very guilty sitting in jail? They send people to jail all day long. And I for myself, owner of many encrypted drives, prefer to know and not having to fight that fight myself while sitting in jail.