The Supreme Court dealt Special Counsel Jack Smith a blow last month after it refused his request to review whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted for actions he took after the 2020 election.

Yet while Smith suffered a legal setback, one legal observer recently argued that Trump will still lose on the question of immunity. 

Former White House lawyer says circuit court will act "very swiftly"

Jim Schultz formerly served as a lawyer in the Trump White House, and he told CNN on Monday that the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is unlikely to side with the former president.

"The Supreme Court rejected the idea of expediting this, but it still goes to the DC circuit court," Schultz said in an interview with CNN host Rahel Solomon.

"And it’s common knowledge in the legal community [that] DC circuit court is kind of the warm-up act for the supreme court. A lot of supreme court justices have come from the DC circuit," Schultz explained.

"And I think in this instance the DC circuit court is going to act swiftly. And I think they’re going to knock down this immunity claim … very swiftly," the attorney predicted.

Former deputy assistant attorney general predicts case will be delayed

However, others have noted that even if Trump is ultimately found not to enjoy presidential immunity, the appeals process could end up delaying any verdict in the case until after this year's election.

John Yoo formerly served as deputy assistant attorney general as well as a clerk under Justice Clarence Thomas, and last month he said that the Supreme Court's decision not to expedite the case amounted to an early Christmas present for Trump.

"You can't say this is anything but a victory for him and a defeat for the special counsel," Yoo declared during an appearance on Fox News.

"This means, in all likelihood, this criminal trial is going to get pushed back into the summer, won't be able to start until this immunity issue is handled," Yoo stressed.

Schultz: Supreme Court likely to rule that Trump must remain on ballot

When speaking with CNN, Schultz also predicted that Trump is likely to prevail when it comes to whether Section 3 of the 14th Amendment can be used to remove him from state ballots.

"That is, there are a number of specific officials that are named in that section, one of them does not include the president of the United States. I think that’s going to be the basis upon which they make this appeal," Schultz stated.

"And I do believe that the United States Supreme Court is going to agree with the Trump team on this one at least," he added.