For the first time in U.S. history, the Supreme Court is about to consider whether a candidate for the presidency may be removed from the ballot for having “engaged in insurrection” against the Constitution.

On Feb. 8, the justices will hear arguments in Trump v. Anderson, a case in which the Colorado Supreme Court has already ruled that former president Donald Trump is disqualified from office under Section Three of the 14th Amendment because he incited and “engaged in insurrection on January 6, 2021, after swearing an oath as President to support the U.S. Constitution.”

Trump v. Anderson promises to be the most significant election case since 2000, when Bush v. Gore virtually decided the presidency. The issues are intricate, requiring novel determinations of both fact and law, with an implicit threat of disorder hanging over any outcome adverse to Trump.

The crucial complexities of the case can be well understood by considering the classic journalists’ questions: Who, what, when, where and how? (But not in that sequence.)

Some of the answers are straightforward, but others are far knottier. Here they are, in ascending order of difficulty:

First, the easiest question. What is the case about?

The litigation arises under Section Three of the 14th Amendment, passed in the aftermath of the Civil War, which imposes a broad disqualification from state or federal offices on anyone who, having previously sworn an oath of office, engaged in insurrection or rebellion. The Colorado Supreme Court held, by........

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