The attorney, Adam Richardson, also included DeSantis and Attorney General Ashley Moody in his petition, alleging that they have “waged a campaign to interfere with the election.” Richardson asked justices “to forbid them from misusing or abusing their offices and agencies to interfere with the election for Amendment 4.”

Justices could have dismissed Richardson’s complaint. Instead, they ordered the agency to respond to his allegations by 5 p.m. on Sept. 23.

The lawsuit is the most significant legal pushback so far to DeSantis’ efforts to marshal state resources to defeat Amendment 4, which would overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban if passed by 60% of voters in November. The amendment says, in part, that “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”