Of course, once the Senate receives the impeachment, it can judge it on matters such as timeliness and House procedure.
However, until receives it, it doesn’t exist for them.
And that’s good. We don’t need them making trouble for each other (which is precisely the destructive thing Nancy is doing).
I agree to a point. Until they receive it they shouldn’t waste their time on it. This seems to be McConnell’s angle too. He’s not going to set the rules until he has something to set the rules for.
But I say this is a unique situation. It is an abuse of the power of impeachment. Pelosi is using the Senate rules to control the narrative and hog the spotlight all for political ends. The House Dems are doing what the framer’s expressly tried to avoid - playing politics with impeachment. The GOP should respond in kind and my angle is they have a way to threaten Pelosi’s Speakership as a price for her brinksmanship. There is no reason to let her keep the spotlight, for principle and for political reasons they need to take control.