Disqualifying Trump Isn’t a Criminal Matter

Peggy Noonan raises criminal-law issues in a civil matter, disqualification from running for office under a state’s election law (“National Unity and the Colorado Supreme Court,” Declarations, Dec. 23). Her term “the charge of insurrection” is misplaced, as is her insistence that “Mr. Trump hasn’t been convicted of insurrection by a jury or judge.”

The Colorado Supreme Court applied the state’s electoral code to facts that were established in evidentiary proceedings in the lower court. Former President Donald Trump had participated in events that the court found to constitute an “insurrection.” Ms. Noonan writes that she agrees with this characterization. Hence, under the electoral code, he was disqualifiable.