If a protester shouts “hey hey, ho ho,” and no one is around to hear it, is it still a protest? No, says the ACLU. They’ve filed suit in federal court against the city and county of Denver as well as the U.S. Secret Service, hoping a judge will allow those who wish to protest at the DNC within sight and earshot of the delegates – something they’re currently banned from doing thanks to the location of the designated “Free Speech Zone.”

Sometimes I agree with the ACLU, often I don’t. (Banning prayer in public schools? Agree. Making Keith Olbermann’s birthday a federal holiday? Not so much.) This time, however, I can’t help but think the ACLU has a point. A protest isn’t really a protest – and free speech isn’t really free speech – if demonstrators are forced into a pen and relegated to some back parking lot where their intended audience can’t even see them in all their bedreadlocked and unshaven splendor.

Other bones of contention the ACLU has asked be overturned include a ban on passing out leaflets and body searches of anyone entering the protest zone. Again, neither of these points is unreasonable. Leaflets explain in more detail what their lame drum-circle chants can’t. And searching every sweaty nook and cranny of a demonstrator’s person without probable cause – especially since they’re stuck in what amounts to a holding pen and aren’t allowed anywhere near the Convention itself – is nothing but harassment.

Whether you agree or disagree with the protesters’ agendas, all Americans ought to support their right to free speech. In this case, we need to support the ACLU and reject the efforts of authorities to cordon off our freedoms and relegate our Constitutional rights to the times and places of their choosing.