A new judge will preside over the South Dakota smoking ban legal battle. Judge Mark Barnett has been removed from the case and Judge Kathleen Trandahl has been appointed to decide whether the ban should be put on the 2010 ballot. 

The American Cancer Society requested that Judge Barnett not be part of the smoking ban case. That's because he worked in the Attorney General's office just a few years ago, and the Attorney General's office will be arguing for the Secretary of State's office in the case. And now that that request has been granted, the American Cancer Society also wants to officially be part of the courtroom battle over the smoking ban.

The American Cancer Society estimates it's spent $50,000 trying to pass the smoke-free law through South Dakota's legislature. And now that the law is being challenged in court, the organization wants to have a seat in the courtroom.

"If, in fact, the courts are going to decide if the issue goes to the ballot, then we certainly believe all of the interested parties should be part of that lawsuit," American Cancer Society Director of Government Relations Jennifer Stalley said.

The American Cancer Society and several other organizations spent a week reviewing all of the signatures bar and casino owners collected to put the smoking ban on the ballot. And that's why the organization says it deserves to be part of the legal process.

"If the signatures are put through a judicial review process, we believe all of the signatures should be in play, and in order to ensure that, we believe that all of the parties interested in those signatures should be part of that lawsuit," Stalley said.

Secretary of State Chris Nelson sided with the American Cancer Society when he threw out all but one thousand of signatures that were questioned. And the cancer society says if it can be part of the case, it wants the court to review those signatures as well.

"Part of intervening is the opportunity to take a look at those one thousand signatures closer," Stalley said.

Sarah Frankenstein, the attorney for the bar and casino owners who brought the lawsuit, says she will file court documents Wednesday challenging the American Cancer Society's involvement in the case.