About Caleb Verbois

Dr. Verbois is an assistant professor of political science at Grove City College and an affiliated scholar at the John Jay Institute. He teaches American Politics and Political Theory and specializes in American constitutional thought.

What is Wrong with Minneapolis?

Earlier this week during a routine arrest Minneapolis police officers knelt on George Floyd’s neck for several minutes, finally killing him. This act fits a long and too-frequent pattern of incidents where police use substantial and often lethal force for … Continue reading

Winter is Always Coming

Last week, my father-in-law came to visit for a few hours. He and my mother-in-law live relatively close, and one or both of them come to visit their young grandchildren a couple of times a month. It is a highlight … Continue reading

A Lot Less Bluster and a Little More Sasse

Predictably, the start of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing to the Supreme Court was an embarrassing fiasco for almost everyone involved. The Republican chair of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Chuck Grassley, had barely begun his opening remarks before Democratic Senator Kamala … Continue reading

Whither Congress?

The news that President Donald Trump authorized the U.S. military to strike a Syrian chemical manufacturing facility is hardly surprising. Even without the potential incentive to distract the news media from Robert Mueller’s investigation and the next phase of James … Continue reading

Memos, Trump, and Trust

Perhaps we should not be surprised by the hysteria over the release of Congressman Devin Nunes’ memo. After all, “memogate” has filled Washington with hysteria for weeks. Former deputy assistant to President Trump, Sebastian Gorka, claimed it showed abuses “100 … Continue reading

Fake News, Executive Orders, and Immigration

The controversy over so-called “fake news” does not seem to be going away. However, the press’s frustration about it is increasingly misplaced. After the presidential election the media fixated for months on a handful of fictitious headlines from suspect websites … Continue reading

An Autopsy of a Movement

With Ted Cruz having dropped out of the 2016 presidential race, there will be a string of eulogies seeking to autopsy his campaign. At least some of those critiques may hit the mark. In particular, Cruz’s campaign strategy went awry … Continue reading

Vote for the Crook, it’s Important

Like many Americans, I learned my first real civics lesson watching my mother vote. Unlike many, my first lesson was fairly depressing. I grew up in southern Louisiana, and in the 1991 gubernatorial election David Duke, a former Grand Wizard … Continue reading

Scalia and the Constitution

I had the great privilege to hear Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speak on three separate occasions and once to meet him in person after hearing him announce a decision. You can learn a lot about someone by reading his … Continue reading