SAN FRANCISCO — Classified advertising network Craigslist.org has filed suit against South Carolina’s attorney general in an attempt to prevent threatened criminal charges.According to the lawsuit, filed in federal court, Craigslist seeks “declaratory relief and a restraining order” to prevent Attorney General Henry McMaster from following through on a threat to prosecute the company and its executives for facilitating sex crimes and distributing pornography.

For the past week, Craigslist has been attempting to remove all sex ads from its ubiquitous website at the request of McMaster and other state attorneys general who were outraged that the site is used by prostitutes and others offering “adult services.” The company eliminated its “erotic services” category across the U.S. and promised to review suspicious ads manually in other categories.

Evidently that wasn’t enough for McMaster. On May 16th, he issued a statement saying, “As of 5 p.m. this afternoon, the Craigslist South Carolina site continues to display advertisements for prostitution and graphic pornographic material. This content was not removed as we requested. We have no alternative but to move forward with criminal investigation and potential prosecution.”

Craigslist Chief Executive Officer Jim Buckmaster fired back with a blog posting outlining the ways in which his organization has cooperated with law enforcement, responded to complaints and ensured all of its operations comply with applicable law. He demanded McMaster apologize and stop persecuting Craigslist for political gain.

McMaster is expected to run for governor next year.

According to Tech Crunch, Craigslist’s “erotic services” section for Greenville, SC, contained a total of eight ads when it closed last week. In contrast, the “adult entertainment” section of Greenville.Backpage.com, owned by Village Voice Media, contained more than 250 ads on Monday; more than 60 of those were submitted within the three previous days.

“In sharp contrast with craigslist, many of these ads are quite explicit, quoting prices for specific sex acts, featuring close-ups of bare genitalia, etc.,” Tech Crunch noted.

Even South Carolinians apparently think McMaster has gone too far. In a Monday poll, the website discovered 80-percent of respondents believed the U.S. would suffer less if South Carolina (population about 4.5 million) seceded than if Craigslist (about 46 million U.S. visitors) disappeared. In response, the Palmetto Scoop, a popular conservative blog in South Carolina, hosted its own poll. By Wednesday afternoon, 61-percent of Palmetto Scoop readers agreed.

“Your conservative voters have spoken, Mr Attorney General McMaster,” Tech Crunch noted. “We’ll draw up the secession paperwork for your signature.”