Restaurant owners who allow smoking in their establishments will have to hold their breath a while longer to see whether a countywide ban will take effect Jan. 2.

Common Pleas Judge Michael A. Della Vecchia had hoped to rule soon after yesterday's expedited hearing for a permanent injunction that would block the ban.

Instead, because the plaintiffs' lawyer wanted to file an additional brief, the judge ended a day of impassioned testimony and complicated legal argument by promising to rule before Dec. 31.

The two Downtown restaurateurs suing Allegheny County and county Chief Executive Dan Onorato admitted their lawsuit is fully funded by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Reynolds officials told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week that they hired the Jones Day firm to represent the plaintiffs, James G. Mitchell of Mitchell's Bar and Restaurant and John J. Petrolias of the Smithfield Cafe.

Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Petrolias testified about how their Greek immigrant forbears weathered floods, the Depression, transit strikes, the demise of Downtown department stores and exorbitant parking taxes only to be faced with the prospect of losing steady customers who enjoy smoking.

Lawyers also called County Council President Rich Fitzgerald, county Health Director Dr. Bruce Dixon and Dr. Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

Most witnesses testified that a statewide ban on indoor smoking made more sense and would be easier to enforce than the county's ban.

The lawyers and the judge referenced great thinkers like Abe Lincoln, Henry David Thoreau and Sir Thomas More, weighing individual choice against a known public health risk.

But the judge, who told the gallery he was "a former smoker," quickly narrowed the matter down to a finite legal question: whether Allegheny County has the authority to enact an ordinance that restricts smoking.

"It's a legislatively created problem that should be solved legislatively," he said.

State lawmakers "did a very, very bad job here," said county Solicitor Michael Wojcik, who advised the county not to pass the ban and then sat yesterday at the defense table listening to Jones Day lawyer John Iole use his argument to pick the ordinance apart.

The state's Clean Indoor Air Act of 1988 restricted every county but Philadelphia from enacting their own regulations. There were at least two subsequent efforts to change that law, and yesterday's hearing was dominated by legal arguments about whether the legislative action pre-empts the county from enacting its own rules.

The technicalities were "not as glamorous" as some of the big-picture issues surrounding smoking, Judge Della Vecchia noted.

Mr. Iole opposed the defense submitting the voluminous 2006 Surgeon General's Report about the effects of secondhand smoke. He also objected repeatedly to testimony from Dr. Dixon and Dr. Herberman about studies showing that nonsmokers can be harmed by exposure to carcinogens in cigarette smoke.