Balko observes that conservative critics of the ACLU remain strikingly ignorant about what the organization actually does:
In May, Matt Welch noted a storm of criticism from the right toward the ACLU for not defending some kids who were sent home from school for wearing shirts depicting the American flag to a Cinco de Mayo celebration. The problem was that the ACLU had intervened on the kids' behalf. The conservative critics just didn't bother to check. I'm working on a column that'll look a bit more at the right's oft-mistaken "Where's the ACLU?" syndrome, but I thought I'd share a pretty glaring recent example I found while researching it.
He goes on to detail the organization's work pushing back against TSA's treatment of passengers, and juxtaposes that fact with the conservative fantasy that the ACLU is being hypocritical by failing to protest.