D. Kyle Sampson, chief of staff to then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, received an unusual waiver from the D.C. Court of Appeals that allows him to practice law, while the Justice Department criminal probe into the politicized hiring and firing in the Bush DOJ continues, The National Law Journal reported today.

D. Kyle Sampson (Hunton & Williams)

The D.C. Committee on Admissions has not approved Sampson’s bar application because DOJ investigators said he broke federal laws and misled government officials, according to the NLJ. He appealed the panel’s decision to the D.C. Court of Appeals, which ruled that he could practice law in Washington until a final decision was reached on his bar application, the NLJ said.

Sampson resigned from his Bush administration post in March 2007 after public outcry over the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys. Connecticut Acting U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy is currently investigating whether politics improperly influenced the U.S. Attorney firings.

The former Bush official was set to join the D.C. Bar in summer 2008 but the probe into the Bush DOJ gave the D.C. Committee on Admissions second thoughts, according to the NLJ. Sampson, a member of the Utah Bar, was then forced to go on leave from his partnership at Richmond, Va.-based law firm Hunton & Williams in 2008 because there is a limited amount of time a lawyer can practice in Washington without a membership to the D.C. Bar, according to the NLJ.

Sampson returned to Hunton & Williams earlier this summer. He specializes in Food and Drug Administration regulatory and enforcement issues at the firm.

D. Kyle Sampson, chief of staff to then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, has come back to his partnership at Richmond, Va.-based law firm Hunton & Williams after spending several months on leave, The Blog of Legal Times reported this afternoon.

D. Kyle Sampson (Hunton & Williams)

The former Gonzales aide went on leave in 2008, according to The BLT. Hunton & Williams said at the time that Sampson was on leave until he was admitted to the D.C. Bar, the blog reported. But Sampson is still not a member of the D.C. Bar despite returning to the firm weeks ago, according to The BLT.

He resigned from his Bush administration post after public outcry over the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys. Connecticut Acting U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy is currently investigating whether politics improperly influenced the U.S. Attorney firings. This week, the House Judiciary Committee released 5,400 pages of documents associated with purge.

Sampson specializes in Food and Drug Administration regulatory and enforcement issues at Hunton & Williams.

Controversy is swirling around two Bush-era officials in an obscure Justice Department office, The Washington Post reported today.

The U.S. Parole Commission — which handles people convicted under D.C. law and under the old federal system — is under scrutiny for  then-Commissioner Deborah Spagnoli’s decision to contact then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about an inmate set to be released, and the apparent efforts of outgoing Chairman Edward F. Reilly Jr. to secure funds to improve a Missouri highway through his hometown.

Spagnoli, who resigned in 2007, lobbied Justice Department members to intercede in the case of Ver0nza Bowers Jr., who was convicted in the 1973 murder of a San Francisco park ranger, The Post said. Bowers has maintained his innocence, and in 2005, he was set to be released.

The then-commissioner, who has called Bowers “an unrepentant murderer,” tried to contact the infamous Office of Legal Counsel lawyer Steven G. Bradbury and Gonzales Chief of Staff D. Kyle Sampson about the case, The Post said.

In an unprecedented move, Gonzales asked the Parole Commission to “clarify” its “initial decision,” according to The Post. The commission then voted to keep Bowers behind bars, The Post said. Following the vote, she wrote an e-mail to a DOJ official that simply said: “victory,” according to The Post.

“I never campaigned to deny parole to Veronza Bowers,” she said in a statement to The Post. “I do not believe there was any impropriety in reviewing the case and the applicable law and providing a summary to the Attorney General who has a statutory right to appeal certain parole commission decisions.”

As for Reilly, he is being investigated by the inspector general’s office for his repeated attempts to have government officials improve Missouri Highway 92, which runs through his hometown of Leavenworth, Kan. This came to light through the work of Spagnoli’s husband, D.C. Assistant U.S. Attorney, William Woodruff, to made letters surrounding the lobbying effort public.

“I never really thought about it until you brought it to my attention,” Reilly told The Post. “I’m very sorry it occurred.”

Spagnoli maintained to The Post that she’s not involved with what her husband is doing, but has complained about Reilly turning the commission into his “personal little fiefdom,” according to The Post.

And another twist: there was someone who visited Reilly’s office on a Sunday in 2006 and copied 68 pages of his personal papers, The Post said. Of the four people who visited the office that day, one was Spagnoli. She declined to comment to The Post on her weekend visit.