US President George W. Bush on Wednesday named White House counsel Alberto Gonzales as attorney general, making him the first Hispanic to hold a cabinet post in any US administration.

"His sharp intellect and sound judgment have helped shape our policies in the war on terror," Bush said in an announcement in the White House.

Gonzales, who has served as the top lawyer for the White House over the past four years, has played a pivotal role in shaping legal opinions about prisoner treatment in the war on terror.

Gonzales, 49, would replace John Ashcroft, who submitted his resignation after Bush's re-election for personal reasons. His nomination needs confirmation by the Senate.

Ashcroft, the combative attorney general whose anti-terrorism policies made him the focus of a fierce national debate over civilliberties, and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, one of Bush's closest friends, became the first cabinet members to resign in a post-election shake-up.

Gonzales, one of eight children of a Mexican migrant family, served as general counsel when Bush was governor of Texas, and then as secretary of state and as a justice on the Texas Supreme Court.