SALEM, Ore. (AP) — On the first day of the Obama administration, local peace activists petitioned the Legislature to provide Gov. Ted Kulongoski with the authority to withhold Oregon Army National Guard soldiers from returning to Iraq.

Legislators have responded by introducing just such a bill while also crafting resolutions that call on Gov. Ted Kulongoski to withhold an upcoming troop deployment that will send more than 3,000 Oregon soldiers to the Middle East, many for the second or third time.

But such legislation likely wouldn’t carry much weight. Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress can federalize National Guard troops and order them to active duty without a governor’s authorization.

Activists, however, say the 2002 authorization for the use of force in Iraq has expired because Saddam Hussein has been toppled and the country never threatened the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction.

The legislation, sponsored by Portland Rep. Chip Shields, has seven House co-sponsors, including Rep. Chris Edwards of Eugene. Edwards said he supports the legislation because Oregon is particularly vulnerable to the kind of natural disasters that require the aid of the National Guard.

“I absolutely support our troops and their service, but I believe strongly in Oregon local control. They are critical to our emergency preparedness,” he said.

Springfield Sen. Bill Morrisette is among the six senators who also support the bill. But he said he doesn’t believe it will provide the governor with the power to override a federal order.

“I think it’s a symbolic thing more than anything,” Morrisette said.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski also doesn’t think the legislation would give him the authority to keep the soldiers in Oregon, said spokesman Rem Nivens.

Activists disagree.

“We feel like we have a solid legal argument,” said Leah Bolger of Corvallis. “Let’s challenge it, go to court and let them decide,”

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision from 1990, found that governors cannot override federal decisions about National Guard deployments. And Ofer Raban, an assistant professor of law at the University of Oregon, said he doubts any court would tackle the question of whether a military objective established by Congress had actually been achieved.