She was both the first woman and the first Democrat to be elected attorney general in Pennsylvania since the office became elective in 1980.

But she quickly became mired in vicious disputes with some former top prosecutors, with charges flying back and forth about cases mishandled or improperly dropped. As she re-examined the handling of the Sandusky case, her investigators also discovered that numerous officials in the attorney general’s office and other state agencies had shared pornographic and racially offensive emails; a Supreme Court justice was forced to resign as a result.

But in August, the Montgomery County district attorney charged Ms. Kane with illegally leaking information to the news media about grand jury proceedings in a 2014 case, then lying about it. That case had involved former state prosecutors with whom she was feuding.

Ms. Kane has also clashed with Philadelphia’s Democratic district attorney, R. Seth Williams, who has employed two former deputy attorneys general with whom she has traded accusations. Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, has previously called on her to resign, saying that he has not judged her innocence or guilt but that she would be impaired in her performance by such a heavy legal cloud. His spokesman, Jeffrey Sheridan, said Monday only that “We are reviewing the order.”

Adding to the pressures on Ms. Kane, Representative Steve Santarsiero, a Democrat, called Monday for Ms. Kane’s immediate resignation in light of the Supreme Court order and the serious charges she faces.