Transforming from a legislative body to a court of impeachment required senators, aides and journalists to adapt to a new status quo, with new hours — usually beginning at 1 p.m. and stretching as late as 2 a.m. — and new rules.

For senators, that meant being stranded without their phones and in sitting silence for hours at a time on the Senate floor, an endeavor they struggled against by doodling, fidget-spinning and whispering or surrendered to sleepily. For journalists, it meant cramming into crowded pens instead of enjoying the usual free-roaming access to lawmakers.

Television cameras and photographers were not allowed inside the chamber, save for one operated by the government, limiting what the public could see and hear.

Among those most inconvenienced by the trial, however, were the Senate Democrats running for president, who found themselves wondering when they would be able to return to Iowa before the nation’s crucial first nominating contest. While Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont made his annoyance clear, most tried to take it in stride.

“I don’t know how many days this is going to last,” Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said. “I just know that I have a constitutional duty to do my job.”