New lawsuits in Minnesota and Oklahoma mark a growing yet long-shot effort to keep former President Donald Trump off the ballot during next year’s presidential elections under the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection clause.”

The suits come in the wake of a legal challenge filed in Colorado by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington last week, the first significant effort in court to block Trump from the ballot box following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump filed a motion in response to move the case from Colorado to federal court.

The new lawsuit, filed by the Free Speech For People in Minnesota on Tuesday, cited Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which is known as the “Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause.” The lawsuit noted the constitutional provision says no person who previously took an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution may hold office after having “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Following the Civil War, the 14th Amendment was ratified to curtail secessionists from returning to their former public offices after Southern states rejoined the U.S.

“Donald J. Trump, through his words and actions, after swearing an oath as an officer of the United States to support the Constitution, engaged in insurrection or rebellion, or gave aid and comfort to its enemies, as defined by Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment,” the lawsuit continued. “He is disqualified from holding the presidency or any other office under the United States unless and until Congress provides him relief.”

The group filed the suit on behalf of eight bipartisan voters and is aiming to file more lawsuits to block Trump ahead of the primary nominating season that begins with next year’s Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15.

Trump has maintained his innocence against any wrongdoing surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and criticized the efforts to block his access to the ballot box on Truth Social, his social media platform. 

“Like Election Interference, it is just another ‘trick’ being used by the Radical Left Communists, Marxists, and Fascists, to again steal an Election that their candidate, the WORST, MOST INCOMPETENT, & MOST CORRUPT President in U.S. history, is incapable of winning in a Free and Fair Election. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote.

Before the lawsuit was filed, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon told MPR News he doesn’t have the authority to remove Trump from the ballot.

“The problem is that the Office of Secretary of State in Minnesota is not the eligibility police,” Simon said. “A lot of people are surprised to know that, but we are not in a position legally. We don’t have the authority legally to make eligibility determinations of any kind, whether that’s residents, whether that’s age, or something else like this.”

Long-shot Republican presidential candidate and Texas Republican John Anthony Castro asked an Oklahoma federal judge to disqualify Trump in a lawsuit based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment last week. He’s also filed lawsuits in at least 11 states to disqualify Trump.

Election officials are divided on whether Trump can be banned from appearing on the ballot given that the 14th Amendment does not clarify how to enforce its provision. Some officials have cautioned that blocking Trump from the ballot could deprive voters of their right to select the next president.

The former president remains the front-runner in the Republican presidential primary race to take on President Joe Biden.