Special counsel Jack Smith requested a federal appeals court Monday to reopen the classified materials case against former President Donald Trump, which was dropped by a judge last month.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case, one of four prosecutions against Trump, after ruling that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was illegal.

Smith’s team subsequently filed an appeal with the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, claiming in their filing that Cannon’s decision is “at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government.” The appeal is the latest development in a prosecution that many legal experts regard as a straightforward criminal case but has been hampered by delays, months of hearings before Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, and, ultimately, a dismissal order that has brought the proceedings to a halt, at least temporarily.

It is unclear how long it will take the appeals court to rule on the case, but even if it overturns Cannon’s dismissal and reinstates the prosecution, there is no chance of a trial before the November presidential election, and Trump, if elected, could appoint an attorney general who would dismiss the case.

The lawsuit contains dozens of felony allegations alleging that Trump illegally retained sensitive records from his administration at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Fla., and obstructed the government’s efforts to retrieve them. He’s pled not guilty.