Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan's office asked a Cook County judge Tuesday to remove a law firm with close ties to Gov. Rod Blagojevich from the criminal case of a one-time Blagojevich friend charged with stealing $2 million from the state.

Blagojevich's office and Madigan have repeatedly clashed over the governor's use of private law firms to represent state agencies or his administration. Madigan's office argues that only the attorney general has the authority to represent state agencies in court or hire outside firms for that work.

The development is the latest twist in the case of Anita Mahajan, who is facing fraud charges that her firm, K.K. Bio-Science, billed the Department of Children and Family Services for drug tests it did not perform.

Madigan's office argued that the law firm of Meckler, Bulger and Tilson cannot continue to represent the agency's interests in the ongoing criminal case against Mahajan.

Mahajan and her banker husband, Amrish, were personal friends of Blagojevich and his family and financial supporters of his campaign. First Lady Patricia Blagojevich, a real estate agent, received more than $113,000 in commissions from real estate deals involving the Mahajans in 2006.

Cook County Judge James Obbish did not immediately rule on the request from Madigan's office.

Bruce Meckler said lawyers for his firm were in court Tuesday only because Mahajan's lawyer was demanding records from the firm related to its work for DCFS in the Mahajan case last fall.

"We were there representing our law firm, which had been subpoenaed," Meckler said.

Steve Miller, Mahajan's attorney, questioned in court whether the firm was representing DCFS or the governor's office.

Meckler, who has close political ties to Blagojevich, said his firm is not representing the governor's office in this case. The firm has represented the governor's administration in other matters, and the governor appointed Meckler to the board that oversees Navy Pier and McCormick Place. In addition, Meckler's firm has contributed more than $128,000 to Blagojevich's campaign fund.