Corruption of our politics poses an existential threat to our republic. Can we be a self-governing nation, of the people, by the people, and for the people, or will we be ruled by special interests and big money lobbyists? Republic Report is dedicated to rooting out the corruption that is so corrosive to American values. We investigate and uncover the buying and selling of politicians and of institutions entrusted with upholding the public interest. We expose how big money distorts major policy decisions – harming our economy and our people.

David Halperin

About

David Halperin (@DaHalperin) runs Republic Report. Halperin, a self-employed lawyer based in Washington DC, engages in public advocacy, investigative work, and legal representation on a wide range of issues, including higher education, climate change, democracy, corruption, open government, and national security. He also advises organizations and companies on strategy, policy, communications, and legal matters, and he is of counsel to Public.Resource.org.

Halperin was from 2004 until 2012 the founding director of Campus Progress and senior vice president at the Center for American Progress. Before that, he was: senior policy advisor for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign; founding executive director of the American Constitution Society; White House speechwriter and special assistant for national security affairs to President Clinton; co-founder of the Internet company Progressive/RealNetworks; counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee; law clerk to U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell (D.D.C.); research assistant to Robert S. McNamara; and research analyst at the Arms Control Association.

Halperin has represented clients in the U.S. Supreme Court and various state and federal courts. He writes at Republic Report, and his articles also have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Nation, Politico, Slate, Foreign Policy, and other outlets. In recent years he has testified before the House Oversight Committee and at the Federal Trade Commission, Department of Transportation, Department of Education, and Environmental Protection Agency, and spoken at major events held by the National Consumer Law Center, Consumer Federation of America, Arizona State University, American Educational Research Association, and Center for American Progress. Halperin has served since 2007 on the board of directors of Public Citizen.

Halperin graduated from Yale College and Yale Law School. (As if this bio isn’t long enough, a longer bio of David Halperin is here.)

Support for David Halperin’s work for Republic Report on higher education issues has included grants from the Ford Foundation, The Institute for College Access & Success, and The Initiative to Protect Student Veterans and Center for Public Interest Law at the University of San Diego. We are grateful for this support. These funders have no control over or input into the editorial content of this website. The articles reflect the author’s views only.

Republic Report

Republic Report, a project of the nonprofit group Essential Information, is nonpartisan. Your Republic Report writers strive hard to publish pieces that are entirely accurate and fair, and to write without fear or favor.

Sometimes we criticize, for corrupted arrangements and conflicts of interest, people whom we personally like and who have done many positive, productive things in their lives. We regret if that causes anguish. We recognize that no one is perfect (certainly not your Republic Report writers). We think it is more important to advocate for an honest, strong democracy than to preserve illusions about peoples’ reputations (e.g., that they are not paid by corporations to advocate for harmful outcomes or validate bad actors).

We want to hear from you. To send tips, compliments, complaints, concerns, corrections, and other feedback, please write to [email protected]

Over the years, contributors to Republic Report have included:

  • Lee Fang
  • David Halperin
  • Zaid Jilani
  • Matt Kasper
  • Suzanne Merkelson
  • Matt Stoller

Support Republic Report

We depend on financial contributions to do our work, and we would be grateful for your support.

If you would like to support the work of Republic Report, write a check payable to “Essential Information” with the memo notation “For Republic Report” and send to:

Republic Report c/o Essential Information  P.O. Box 19405  Washington, DC 20036

Contributions are tax-deductible; Essential Information is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization.

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Re-use policy

Unless we note otherwise on a particular post, you have Republic Report‘s permission to republish our posts without compensation to us, provided you follow these three rules:

  1. You can’t make changes to the text of the posts.
  2. You must include the byline of the post’s author plus the name of our website (e.g., “BY DAVID HALPERIN, REPUBLIC REPORT”).
  3. If you’re re-using online, you must add somewhere in the post the sentence, “This article originally appeared on Republic Report” with a link to http://RepublicReport.org