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Two doctrines favored by the conservative supermajority — textualism and originalism — could play a crucial role in any decision by the justices on whether to keep Donald Trump on the ballot.

The legal issues are novel and tangled, experts said, and the justices may be wary of knocking a leading presidential candidate off the ballot.

Readers discuss a guest essay that argued it would be a mistake to keep the former president off the ballot. Also: Political despair; nonelite colleges; dinners with Churchill.

The special counsel, Jack Smith, is seeking to shape the evidence the jury in the federal election interference case will hear.

After Colorado’s top court ruled that the former president was disqualified for engaging in insurrection, justices in Michigan considered a similar challenge.

Polls have been pretty clear: If he is criminally convicted by a jury of his peers, voters are likely to punish him for it.

Readers discuss what sort of speech should be permissible and fears about speaking up. Also: Hillary Clinton scenario; traveling for abortions; morning sickness.

Jan. 6 was not the same kind of event as the Confederacy’s succession.

This week’s debate over his very eligibility for office served as a stark reminder that anyone else facing such a wide array of legal problems would have left the political stage long ago.

It could well undermine our democracy by empowering a Supreme Court that liberals have rightly complained grabs too much power too routinely.