MADISON, Wis. (NewsNation Now) — A new legal challenge to Gov. Tony Evers’ latest mask mandate is before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, filed less than a week after the Legislature struck down a previous order and the governor quickly issued a new one.

Prominent Republican donor Jere Fabick asked the court late Tuesday to issue a temporary injunction to block the mask order Evers issued on Feb. 4, just after the GOP-controlled Legislature voted to repeal an earlier order. Fabick’s lawsuit challenging Evers’ authority to issue multiple emergency orders remains before the Supreme Court, which heard arguments in November but has yet to issue a ruling.

Republicans and Fabick contend that the Democratic governor exceeded his authority by issuing multiple public health emergencies due to the coronavirus pandemic. Evers tied the mask mandates to each emergency order.

Fabick and the GOP-controlled Legislature argue that Evers must get legislative approval to extend a health emergency beyond 60 days if it’s for the same event. Evers contends the changing nature of the pandemic warranted him issuing new health orders.

Fabick’s attorneys argued in the filing Tuesday that the Supreme Court needed to take “immediate action” to stop the latest order from Evers. Republicans in the Legislature have said they are awaiting a court rule before taking any action to strike down the latest mask order, which runs until March 20.

Nearly 60 organizations opposed repeal of the mask mandate, including groups representing hospitals, doctors, nurses, EMTs, school administrators, businesses, children, unions, Milwaukee schools, American Indian tribes, pharmacists, firefighters, local health departments, senior citizens, churches and dentists.

Fabick is a board member and policy advisor for The Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank, and also the president of a multistate Caterpillar equipment and engine dealer.

An August 2020 lawsuit, filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, similarly argued that Evers can issue only one emergency declaration per crisis and sought to strike down Evers’ mask mandate. St. Croix County Circuit Judge R. Michael Waterman ruled in October that Evers did not overstep his authority by issuing multiple pandemic-related emergency orders. At the time, Wisconsin ranked third nationwide in new coronavirus cases per capita.

Wisconsin’s COVID-19 cases have been trending downward since mid-November. The seven-day average of new cases on Tuesday was its lowest in five months and the state ranks 11th nationally in the percentage of its total population that has received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The UW Health System reported Wednesday that thanks to wearing masks and other coronavirus precautions, cases of influenza are “practically nonexistent.” As of Wednesday, there had been one positive flu test at UW Health. That compares with 1,183 at this point last year and 149 in 2019, the health system said.

The Associated Press contributed to this article, all reporting by Scott Bauer.