Smith is appealing U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision last week to dismiss the case, in which the former president is charged with hoarding national security secrets at Mar-a-Lago after he left office. The federal court that will hear his appeal — the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals — laid out a schedule Thursday that requires Smith and Trump to file legal briefs through mid-October.

After all the briefs are in, the court will likely hear oral arguments, with a decision weeks or potentially months after that.

Barring an effort by Smith to demand an expedited schedule, the 11th Circuit’s timeline suggests the effort by prosecutors to resuscitate the case is likely to stretch past the 2024 election. A Trump victory in the election is seen as a likely death knell for the case, as Trump’s Justice Department leaders would be expected to unravel the prosecution.