It’s not just the country’s university campuses that are increasingly under attack by anti-free speech zealots. The vicious, vehemently non-inclusive ecofascist lobby that demands to see climate skeptics put behind bars — which the Justice Department recently confirmed is a definite possibility — may finally be getting its way. The effort began in late March with the formation of the group “AGs United for Clean Power,” which consists of 17 attorneys general whose mission it is to stifle any and all opposition to what they wrongly label “settled science.”

Heritage Foundation fellows Hans von Spakovsky and Cole Wintheiser draw a link to the Spanish Inquisition, which they point out “systematically silenced any citizen who held views that did not align with the king’s.” They continue: “Using the powerful arm of the government, the grand inquisitor, Tomas de Torquemada, and his henchmen sought out all those who held religious, scientific, or moral views that conflicted with the monarch’s, punishing the ‘heretics’ with jail sentences; property confiscation; fines; and in severe cases, torture and execution.” In this case, the authors say, the grand inquisitor is Al Gore, who lauded the witch hunt as “exceptionally important.”

The group’s first victim was revealed last week. On Thursday, “The Competitive Enterprise Institute denounced a subpoena from Attorney General Claude E. Walker of the U.S. Virgin Islands that attempts to unearth a decade of the organization’s materials and work on climate change policy.” CEI was singled out for its supposed collusion with ExxonMobil. In a separate piece, Spakovsky writes:

> The voluminous, harassing 14-page subpoena says Inquisitor Walker is investigating ExxonMobil for “misrepresenting its knowledge of the likelihood that its products and activities have contributed to and are continuing to contribute to climate change in order to defraud the Government … and consumers.” This supposedly violates the Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which is the Virgin Islands’ version of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, or RICO.

These days, no matter how outlandish the retribution, it seems there is nothing the federal government won’t do if it effectively silences the opposition. As Spakovsky rightly emphasizes, man-made global warming is just a theory. We wish we could say the same of man-made authoritarianism.