The drama just keeps on coming from the Craigslist erotic services saga. For years, Craigslist has defended itself against accusations that its erotic services section is illegal and is full of ads for prostitutes. Earlier this spring, the battle became more serious when Illinois sheriff Tom Dart led a public attack on the site, claiming it constituted the largest prostitution ring in the United States.

Eventually, attorneys general from several states joined the movement to get Craigslist to shut down the erotic services section. And as I reported last week, Craigslist complied — eliminating the erotic services section and replacing it with a section called the adult section. Company executives said that an employee would read each ad placed in the adult section before it could go live on the site. While questions remained regarding how an organization of 28 people could manually review such an enormous volume of ads, the gesture was recognized by most of the attorneys general.

Enter Henry McMaster, attorney general of South Carolina. According to Fox News, McMaster sent a demand to Craigslist to remove “obscene photos” from the erotic services section before 5 p.m. on May 15.  When that didn’t happen, McMaster said that the state would pursue criminal charges against Craigslist.

Jim Buckmaster, the CEO of Craigslist, responded by demanding an apology from McMaster. Why? Because there are dozens of publications, both in print and on the Web, that advertise for erotic services in South Carolina. Why is McMaster targeting Craigslist rather than these other sites? Buckmaster pointed out that the South Carolina version of Craigslist only lists 40 ads within the erotic services section, and that all of those ads comply with Craigslist’s terms of service.

This brings us to today (bet you thought we were finished). The official Craigslist blog announced that the organization is pursuing a lawsuit seeking declatory relief and a restraining order against McMaster. Buckmaster maintains that McMaster’s demands and threats are unreasonable and target Craigslist in an unfair way. He makes a strong case for his argument with plenty of supporting evidence, most of which is not safe for work.

I’m not sure how this argument will play out. I think Buckmaster has made some legitimate points and it doesn’t look like McMaster has a leg to stand on. But I’m no lawyer, and I haven’t reviewed every detail of the case, so perhaps I’m just missing something. I do know that if McMaster gets his way, South Carolina will be missing something — Craigslist.

Learn more at HowStuffWorks.com:

How Craigslist Works
How the Judicial System Works
How U.S. Criminal Records Work
How Lawsuits Work