Of all the characters in the U.S. Attorney firings drama, Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, was not our favorite. When he testified on Capitol Hill, he was earnest, sweaty, and decidedly non-fabulous -- unlike Monica Goodling, who took the Senate Judiciary Committee by storm with a dazzling performance.

But even though his government service ended inauspiciously, Sampson has done just fine for himself. From the Salt Lake Tribune:

Three Washington lawyers with Utah ties - including the chief of staff to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales - are joining the food and drug practice at the firm Hunton & Williams.

D. Kyle Sampson, a Cedar City native, was Gonzales' chief of staff at the Justice Department until he resigned amid a controversy over the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys, a move that spawned congressional investigations. Sampson, who compiled the list of attorneys who were fired, testified for hours before House and Senate committees in public hearings and private interviews.

Before joining the Justice Department he was an Associate Counsel to the President at the White House, was director of personnel for the Bush administration, and was an aide to Sen. Orrin Hatch on the Judiciary Committee. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University and Chicago University law school.

We wonder if the Mormon Mafia had a hand in his hiring. They are to the legal world what the Gay Mafia is to fashion!

Sampson, ex-aide to Gonzales, joins law firm [Salt Lake Tribune]

Those of you who read our extensive liveblogging of Monica Goodling's testimony on Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee know how deeply impressed we were.

Goodling was poised, intelligent, and articulate. She showed flashes of wit, as well as consistent honesty and forthrightness. She looked like a million bucks.

On a scale of 0 to 10, we'd score Monica Goodling's performance on Capitol Hill as a 9.3. It wasn't a perfect 10; Rep. Artur Davis landed a few punches in the eleventh round. But Monica "Hurts So" Goodling ultimately emerged victorious from the boxing ring of the Rayburn House Office Building, with barely a glove laid on her.

We weren't alone in our assessment. Distinguished legal commentators, including law professors like Orin Kerr and Adam Gershowitz, also raved over La Goodling's star turn.

And this morning, via Howard Bashman, we come across more praise of Goodling, from an unlikely source. Check out this great online essay (registration required), by Eve Fairbanks of The New Republic -- no bastion of conservatism.

Discussion continues after the jump.

Via the Volokh Conspiracy, we came across this intriguing piece, by Murray Waas for the National Journal, about how Attorney General Alberto Gonzales delegated exceptionally broad powers to his two youthful underlings: D. Kyle Sampson and the Magnificent Monica Goodling.

Here's the lede:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales signed a highly confidential order in March 2006 delegating to two of his top aides -- who have since resigned because of their central roles in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys -- extraordinary authority over the hiring and firing of most non-civil-service employees of the Justice Department....

In the order, Gonzales delegated to his then-chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, and his White House liaison "the authority, with the approval of the Attorney General, to take final action in matters pertaining to the appointment, employment, pay, separation, and general administration" of virtually all non-civil-service employees of the Justice Department, including all of the department's political appointees who do not require Senate confirmation. Monica Goodling became White House liaison in April 2006, the month after Gonzales signed the order.

Professor Orin Kerr's take:

Remarkable. And assuming this story checks out, it certainly explains why Gonzales seemed so clueless about the U.S. Attorney firings. It seems that Gonzales had taken himself completely out of the loop of all DOJ political appointee hiring. He had delegated that role completely to two 30-somethings, Kyle Sampson and Monica Goodling; his only role was a formality, required just so that OLC would find the practice constitutional.

We take issue with Professor Kerr's dismissive reference to the Magnificent Monica Goodling as a mere "30-something." And now that she has been granted immunity, we can't wait for Goodling to testify before the House Judiciary Committee.

All mysteries will be revealed, and this entire U.S. Attorney mess will be straightened out, after Monica Goodling appears before the House Judiciary Committee in all her radiance. She will dazzle the Committee, as well as the American people, with her command performance, the likes of which have never been seen on Capitol Hill.

Goodling's crisp and cogent answers to even the most challenging queries from legislators will cause jaws to drop. Her command of both the facts and the law concerning the U.S. Attorney firings will amaze the nation. It will be just like the final courtroom scene in "Legally Blonde," in which another plucky, underestimated blonde triumphed against all odds.

At the end of her testimony, Rep. John Conyers will publicly apologize to Monica Goodling for dragging her good name through the mud. Faith in the U.S. Department of Justice will be restored. Truth, justice, and the American way will be vindicated.

And then President Bush will dispatch Monica Goodling to Iraq, as head of a special mission designed to fix the debacle over there. There is nothing that our Monica can't do!!!

Secret Order By Gonzales Delegated Extraordinary Powers To Aides [National Journal]
Did Sampson and Goodling Have Total Control of DOJ Political Hiring? [Volokh Conspiracy]

We were planning to do a quick write-up on the Senate Judiciary Committee testimony of Kyle Sampson. But many such write-ups have already been done. And the Sampson testimony, while it had its moments, wasn't quite as exciting as we were hoping.

So forget about the decidedly unglamorous Kyle Sampson, accurately described by Emily Bazelon as "sweaty, nervous, and soft-spoken." Let's talk about a more exciting and dynamic personality, the real breakout star of U.S. Attorney-gate to date:

MONICA GOODLING!!!

Today brings two new, juicy profiles of Monica M. Goodling -- one from the Washington Post, and one from the Harrisburg Patriot-News. They contain a lot of interesting material.

Discussion and links, after the jump.

Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has just announced that the Republicans have objected, under Senate rules, to the Kyle Sampson hearings continuing any further.

The committee, which returned from lunch at around 1:45, now stands in recess. We'll keep you posted.

Update (2:42 PM): And we're back. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) is questioning Kyle Sampson.

(We were a little distracted by a technical glitch with the site that some commenters pointed out. But we think it has been fixed now, so we're back to blogging on the hearings.)

Since our last post, there have been some exciting developments. Sen. Pat Leahy's questioning was pretty boring; he walked Sampson through a bunch of emails, deposition-style.

But things got more interesting when Sen. Arlen Specter took over. Playing his role as Senate moderate, he asked some questions that could be viewed as friendly, and some as hostile. Senator Specter got Sampson to admit that some of Alberto Gonzales's prior testimony was not consistent with Sampson's recollection.

Things got even hotter during Sen. Chuck Schumer's questioning. In a "yes or no," Perry Mason-esque line of cross-examination, Senator Schumer got Sampson to admit -- under oath, and with apparent reluctance -- that several of AG Gonzales's prior statements were "not accurate," or at least not consistent with Sampson's recollection. Ruh-roh...

You could tell that Senator Schumer was scoring points because Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a smart and savvy former prosecutor and judge, piped up in the middle of Schumer's questioning. Senator Cornyn angrily protested that Sen. Schumer was being unfair in not allowing Kyle Sampson, a witness testifying under oath, to answer questions fully. Exciting stuff!

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) is trying too hard. It seems like he is looking for something to be upset about.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) sounds like Alec Baldwin with a lisp. He is vaguely ridiculous.

Okay, it's lunchtime. In recess until 1:45 PM.

Earlier: Kyle Sampson Inside the Lions' Den

We're liveblogging the Kyle Sampson testimony. Our commentary will be added continuously to this post, so just refresh your browser for the latest.

We have high expectations -- and we're not alone. From the NYT:

“I think it will be the most interesting testimony we have heard since Professor Hill,” Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said as he recalled Anita F. Hill’s appearance in the confirmation hearing for Clarence Thomas for a Supreme Court seat. “I can’t think of anyone else who has quite the drama.”

(Of course, some are trying to dial down expectations. Sen. Chuck Schumer is warning us that the Sampson testimony probably won't produce the proverbial "smoking gun.")

Our commentary on the hearing, plus links to various news accounts, will appear after the jump.

From the New York Times home page, as of 11:30 PM on Wednesday:

Is this, like, a racial slur or something? Granted, it's a buffalo-buffalo, not a water buffalo; but still...

The NYT subsequently fixed this photo screw-up (but not before an enterprising ATL reader took a screenshot). The Timesfolk replaced the buffalo-and-snowmobiles photo with a sinister-looking Kyle Sampson, accompanying Alberto Gonzales on an earlier visit to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sampson's testimony begins at 10 AM today. We're looking forward to it!

Former Key Aide Testifies Today on Gonzales’s Statements [New York Times]

* Return of the Equal Rights Amendment? [Washington Post via How Appealing]

* Rumsfeld torture charges dropped because his actions were related to his government position. [CNN]

* DOJ: Monica mum, but Sampson speaking. [MSNBC]

* On that subject, here's a chart and timeline with links for all you need to know about "Attorneygate." [Slate]

* Now that his ex-wife has become a man, the ex-husband is seeking to end alimony payments on that basis. [CNN]

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's former chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, resigned from his CoS post effective March 12. Some news organizations reported that his resignation was due to a failure to keep senior Department of Justice officials in the loop about discussions he had with former White House counsel Harriet Miers concerning the controversial U.S. Attorney firings.

Kyle Sampson wants you all to know that such reports are incorrect. From the Politico:

Another act in the drama opened this weekend with the release of a statement by D. Kyle Sampson....

The statement was issued by his lawyer, Bradford A. Berenson, who had worked for Gonzales in the White House counsel's office for the first two years of Bush's presidency. The statement makes it clear that Sampson does not want to be blamed for the fiasco, and particularly for any incomplete briefing of Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General William E. Moschella before they testified to Congress about a lack of political influence on the decision to dismiss the prosecutors.

Here's the full statement:

"Kyle did not resign because he had misled anyone at the Justice Department or withheld information concerning the replacement of the U.S. Attorneys. He resigned because, as Chief of Staff, he felt he had let the Attorney General down in failing to appreciate the need for and organize a more effective response to the unfounded accusations that the replacements were improper. The fact that the White House and Justice Department had been discussing this subject since the election was well-known to a number of other senior officials at the Department, including others who were involved in preparing the Department's testimony to Congress. If this background was not called to Mr. McNulty or Mr. Moschella's attention, it was not because any of these individuals deliberately withheld it from them but rather because no one focused on it at the time. The focus of preparation efforts was on why the U.S. Attorneys had been replaced, not how."

Translation: "Sorry, Alberto, but I'm not taking the fall for you. I'm too young, and too ambitious, for my career to end now. I may be from Utah; but my name is not Angela Stander!"

Dems Seek Maximum Political Gain in Attorneys Uproar [Politico]

The U.S. Attorneys firing scandal has claimed its first victim (other than the fired U.S. Attorneys): D. Kyle Sampson

Sampson, who served as chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, tendered his resignation on Monday. It was reported that Sampson failed to keep AG Gonzales and other top Justice Department officials in the loop about his discussions with former White House Counsel Harriet Miers concerning possible U.S. Attorney firings.

An interesting profile of Sampson, written by Eric Lipton, appeared in yesterday's New York Times. It includes good detail about Sampson's meteoric rise through conservative legal circles, as well as some backstory about Sampson's own desire to serve as U.S. Attorney for Utah.

It's a serious and sober portrait. If you're in the mood for something on the lighter side, replete with discussion of Sampson's skills on the basketball court, check out what we received from a helpful tipster. It appears after the jump.