WASHINGTON  As Attorney General Alberto Gonzales prepares to face Congress this month, his role in the dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys isn't the only issue under scrutiny. There is also loyalty as defined by the Bush administration.

Democrats including Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin have taken note of Justice Department e-mails referring to the U.S. attorneys who were retained as "loyal Bushies" and wondered whether that quality trumps fidelity to the law.

Loyalty with roots stretching back to Texas helps explain why Bush is standing behind Gonzales, analysts say. It is also one reason Bush is willing to risk a constitutional confrontation over congressional efforts to compel testimony from two other top associates, also from Texas: Karl Rove, a deputy chief of staff and Bush's top political adviser, and Harriet Miers, who was his chief counsel until January.

Some Republicans, including former Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo, say Lone Star loyalty "is the only reason Gonzales is still around." He says Gonzales should step down over mismanagement of the U.S. attorneys flap.

"Alberto Gonzales' loyalty to George Bush has got to trump George Bush's loyalty to Alberto Gonzales," Corallo says.

Bush said this week he regrets how the episode has played out, especially its effect on the reputations of dismissed U.S. attorneys. He said there has been "no credible evidence of any wrongdoing."

Asked how critical loyalty should be in selecting U.S. attorneys, Bush said the most important criterion is "somebody who is qualified, somebody who can get a job done."

It's no surprise that the latest battle between the White House and the Democratic Congress involves three prominent Texans.

Bruce Buchanan, a presidential specialist at the University of Texas in Austin, says, "These are the people he trusts the most, and he has put them in key positions." He says, "There is an excessive emphasis in this administration, perhaps, on loyalty," and Bush is "reluctant to cashier people."

Loyalty is one of the reasons Bush has been able to build a strong team over the years, says former White House spokesman Scott McClellan, also a Texan. He calls it a "two-way street."

"People are loyal to him and tend to stick with him," McClellan says. "He's also very loyal to them, especially the Texas crowd."

Democratic strategist Paul Begala, a Texan who is one of Bush's most vociferous critics, says the president's support for his aides is one of the things he admires about him, but "he seems to be loyal to a fault a lot lately."

Bush has said Gonzales needs to explain the Justice Department's actions to Congress. Gonzales is scheduled to testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 17.

Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., also wants to hear from Rove and Miers about their roles in what he called efforts to politicize U.S. attorneys' positions. Leahy's committee and its House counterpart have authorized subpoenas for the Bush advisers, but no one has been subpoenaed.

Bush has said he understands the congressional interest but has a duty to protect a president's ability to receive candid advice from aides without fear that they would be "hauled before various committees to discuss internal deliberations."

Through White House counsel Fred Fielding, Bush offered private interviews of Rove and Miers, but with no oaths taken and no transcripts kept. Leahy and fellow Democrats rejected that offer, saying the public deserves to know the White House roles in this affair.

Leahy says, "U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president, but justice does not serve at the pleasure of this or any White House."

Enlarge By Joe Raedle, Getty Images U.S. President George W. Bush embraces U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as he walks offstage after an address to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in 2005.