Using the Eucharist as a Weapon?

St Ambrose, pray for us.
I admit to knowing little of the life of Ambrose, (beyond the story of the creation of the great hymn of praise, the Te Deum.)
But this struck me forcefully:

Ambrose was equally zealous in combating the attempt made by the upholders of the old state religion to resist the enactments of Christian emperors. The pagan party was led by Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, consul in 391, who presented to Valentinian II a forcible but unsuccessful petition praying for the restoration of the Altar of Victory to its ancient station in the hall of the Roman Senate, the proper support of seven Vestal Virgins, and the regular observance of the other pagan ceremonies.

To this petition Ambrose replied in a letter to Valentinian.... To support the logic of his argument, Ambrose halted the celebration of the Eucharist, essentially holding the Christian community hostage, until [emphasis added] Theodosius agreed to abort the investigation without requiring reparations to be made by the bishop.

And people are up in arms today, accusing Bishops endeavoring to admonish their most publicly, vociferously and obstinately sinning constituents of using of Communion "as a weapon"!

And that withholding of the Blessed Sacrament is only from the actual public sinners themselves, not from the community.

I'm not saying that makes it rgiht, I'm just sayin'...

There is a precedent.