Ousted Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit arguing Gov. Ron DeSantis abused his power when suspending him from office over, among other things, a pledge to not prosecute women who violate Florida’s new 15-week abortion ban.

DeSantis detractors immediately condemned Warren’s Aug. 4 suspension as political overreach and targeting a political foe. The governor framed the move as maintaining his “law and order” philosophy and characterized Warren’s suspension as removing a progressive prosecutor who refused to enforce laws. Warren has twice been elected to serve as State Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit.

“This morning I filed a suit in federal court to challenge that blatant abuse of power by Governor DeSantis in suspending me as state attorney,” Warren said during a Wednesday morning press conference in Tallahassee. “There is so much more at stake here than my job.

Warren’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida, alleges that DeSantis violated his First Amendment rights by suspending him for signing a pledge to not prosecute women for seeking abortions and his public statements opposing the criminalization of transgender people. He is asking the court to throw out DeSantis’ executive order used to suspended him and to rule governors are not allowed to take similar actions moving forward.

It also alleges DeSantis overstepped his authority to suspend elected officials from office because he did so with Warren only for signing pledges, rather than in response to an official action. The issue is likely now headed to the Republican-led Florida Senate, which would have to take action before Warren is formally removed from office.