The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, and software has been treated as a form of speech ever since. So if software code is speech, Apple says the First Amendment also means the government can't tell Apple what to say.

In many ways, Apple CEO Tim Cook has been saying that and more for many years. He's said you don't have to choose between doing good and doing well. But only a few dozen people were lined up outside the Apple Store in San Francisco. That's nothing compared to the hundreds and thousands that line up for new products. Cook is taking a gamble here.

The FBI wants Apple to write software code to help it break into the iPhone. Apple doesn't want to say this. Andrew Crocker, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, or EFF, a digital civil rights group, says the government can't make you say what you don't believe. He looks to a Supreme Court case that began in New Hampshire.

Under [Tim] Cook's leadership, Apple is now using 100 percent renewable energy in the U.S. and China, and it's worked to improve conditions at its manufacturing plants in China.

Tim Cook has not been afraid to confront the government on issues he considers morally important.

Looking back at Tim Cook's public appearances in the last few years makes the standoff with the government look almost inevitable.

The Washington Post speaking out against state legislation that he believed would let businesses deny services to gay, lesbian and transgender people. [Tim] Cook himself came out as gay in the pages of Bloomberg Businessweek.