This Wednesday at 11am there will be a pre-trial hearing in DC Superior Court to determine whether Choi can offer a defense of selective prosecution by the government, and First Amendment protection for his right of free speech.

Former Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had been avoiding subpoenas, but over the weekend he was served at his son’s baseball game. Last week the Department of Justice accepted service for Valerie Jarrett, Senior Adviser to the President.

In a remarkable turn of events, the Department of Justice has elected to file a writ of mandamus to prevent Judge John Facciola from allowing Dan Choi from offering a “selective prosecution” or “vindictive prosecution” defense. The government elected to pursue federal charges against Choi and 12 others for chaining themselves to the White House fence on November 15, 2010 to protest Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

The same thing that happened to Alice Paul and the suffragettes is happening to Dan Choi, his fellow DADT protesters, and now Bill McKibben and the Tar Sands protesters. I do not know how anyone could argue with a straight face that laws written to control traffic are not being selectively enforced to punish free speech when it embarrasses the President, just as they were in Woodrow Wilson’s time. And the minute that the law is selectively enforced by those in power in order to persecute their political critics, those people that the government incarcerate become political prisoners.