Elliot Williams (@elliotcwilliams) is a CNN legal analyst. A principal at The Raben Group, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm, he was formerly a deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department and counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The views expressed here are the author's. View more opinion on CNN.

(CNN) Democrats conducting the impeachment hearings had a very good week.

Their success wasn't on account of the performance of any member of Congress or witness, however. Something far less sexy was the big star of the week: a series of subtle choices about the format of hearings, made weeks ago by staff. Simply put, Democrats' behind-the-scenes decisions over who would speak, for how long, and in what order were nothing short of genius.

Having worked on both sides of scores of congressional hearings (both as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee and working on legislative affairs for the Obama administration), I know well that nothing in a congressional hearing happens in a vacuum. Successful narratives do not write themselves, and staff make deliberate decisions over how to tell a story to the public in the simplest, most compelling format possible. In a sense, congressional hearings are just a form of high-stakes theater.

Elliot Williams

Those coordinating the impeachment proceedings were presented with a significant challenge: To win, their case has to be both legally sound (Did the President commit acts of bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors, in violation of the Constitution?) and politically viable (Can we secure the votes of a majority of the House without losing the public?). Their work was cut out for them.

Perhaps the most consequential decision made on the hearing format was to start each day's proceedings off with up to 45 minutes per side of questioning by congressional staff -- as opposed to alternating 5-minute rounds between Democratic and Republican questioners.

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