from www.thestate.com- Craigslist has filed a federal lawsuit against S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster [pictured] to prevent him from charging officials of the worldwide Internet classified ad site with violating state prostitution or obscenity laws, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster announced this morning.

The suit seeks declaratory relief and a restraining order “with respect to criminal charges he has repeatedly threatened against craigslist and its executives, Buckmaster said on his company blog.

McMaster or other representatives of his office could not be immediately reach for comment this morning.

In an exclusive interview two days ago with The State newspaper, Buckmaster would not comment directly whether he or his company planned a possible lawsuit against McMaster, saying only, “Threats are not really my style. I’ll just leave that right where it is.”

McMaster has said that the “erotic services” section of Craigslist often has been a front for prostitution, and that obscene pictures routinely are posted in various sections of the site. Buckmaster said the erotic services section would be discontinued nationwide this week and replaced with an “adult services” section that would be manually monitored by company staff.

But McMaster said that proposal didn’t go far enough, and that Buckmaster didn’t comply with a Friday deadline to remove illegal ads from the S.C. portion of the site.