It just dawned on me. (Senate trial)

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41. Thanks, very informative post.

Not sure where we're really disagreeing. I said the trial happens per the rules of the senate, you have helpfully provided some information on those rules.

Of particular note is that the senate rules provide for Roberts to rule on matters of evidence, relevance, and materiality.

In practice, though, Roberts is likely to follow rehnquist's lead and try to avoid making "big" decisions. This is in part due to not wanting to be overruled (admittedly improbable as you point out) but also because this is fundamentally a senate proceeding under senate rules, so he's likely to defer to what the senate wants, even if he officially has the power to say otherwise.

As to the specifics of allowing Biden-smearing testimony, I very much doubt Roberts will prevent it.

Yes, he will prevent something obviously irrelevant like testimony about Obama's birth certificate, but he's not likely to prevent something about the substance of what Donnie claims he was trying to accomplish in the phone call. He'll decide that it's up to the senate as jury to decide if such matter are relevant to Donnie's defense.