Well, they did it to Paul Ryan. No reason they can't do it to Pelosi.
Did they ever do it to Ryan? I haven't been able to find that any bishops did (and certainly Ryan's own bishop didn't, that much I can guarantee).
The thing to consider here is that the Church's own guidelines for when someone should be refused communion are somewhat vague. Thus you have a scattered set of bishops who are refusing it while most are not. This is subsidiarity in practice: each bishop is applying the rules to his own diocese.
Whether or not the practice of refusing communion is a good idea on the other hand, I think it comes down to intent and whether or not Pelosi is cognizant of the reality that it doesn't make much sense to believe in the Church's teachings on abortion and believe it should be a private decision not open to government restriction, or whether she is well-meaning and simply tragically misguided. I would imagine one (or several) of the bishops must have had a conversation with her about this over the years before Cardinal Burke made this statement. If there is any doubt about her intentions, presumably the bishops should err on the side of giving her the benefit. At least that's my reading of the vague guidelines. Some may disagree and indeed some bishops seem to disagree with each other.
Still, I don't think Burke's statement is actually binding and I think from reading the article he is only advising the bishops to withhold communion from Nancy Pelosi in their dioceses but the bishops themselves still have the final say.
