MORE OUTRAGEOUS THAN WE THOUGHT: Ken White of Popehat, who broke the story in the first place, is spitting mad about what how the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York abused its power to go after Reason.com commenters.

What, you might ask, could be more outrageous than the United States Department of Justice issuing a questionable subpoena targeting speech protected by the First Amendment, and then abusing the courts to prohibit journalists from writing about it?

The answer lies in the everyday arrogance of unchecked power.

Throughout this story some people have suggested that there may be hidden facts, unknown complications, that justify the government’s conduct. Now that Reason’s journalists can speak, we can see that there’s no there there….

Saturday I interviewed Mike Alissi, publisher of Reason, who confirmed that Velamoor never suggested that he had any basis to view these as true threats. In fact, he seemed uninterested in the distinction between protected speech and true threats, and refused to narrow the subpoena to carve out the patently non-threatening “special place in hell” commenter. There is no secret ticking time bomb, no wizard with a woodchipper, no classified justification.

This was the Department of Justice targeting speech because it could.

And this:

The commenters targeted in the subpoena are probably worried about a knock on the door. That knock may come. I don’t think it will be accompanied by an arrest warrant, but it will be accompanied by petty thuggery and the threat of power, banal or not. Commenters: shut up. Ask to talk to a lawyer.

And drop me a line: there are many defense attorneys outraged by this, and we’ll find you counsel, pro bono if needed.

Read the whole thing. This story is bigger than Reason or Velamoor.