About: David Halperin
Twitter: @DaHalperin
Bio: David Halperin is the co-founder and editor of 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. He is of counsel to Public.Resource.org, a non-profit focused on making legal and government materials available for free to the public.
Halperin’s investigative and advocacy work on predatory for-profit colleges since 2010 has spurred reforms in policy and regulations, triggered law enforcement investigations, and led to the closure of numerous deceptive schools.
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 2004 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 Networks (now called 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. Among many other efforts, Halperin helped represent Greenpeace in an unprecedented 2004 Miami criminal jury trial over protest activity, resulting in a directed verdict of acquittal; aided climate groups facing investigation by the House Science Committee during 2015-16; and represented Public Resource in landmark copyright litigation from 2012 to 2024 over efforts to make federal regulations publicly available online without charge.
Halperin 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 several federal agencies, and he has spoken at major conferences and events across the country. Halperin has served since 2007 on the board of directors of Public Citizen.
Halperin graduated from Yale College and Yale Law School.
FTC Seems Ready to Drop Case Against Grand Canyon Education
A filing in federal district court in Arizona suggests the Federal Trade Commission may be preparing to drop the 2023 lawsuit it brought against Grand Canyon Education, a case alleging that Grand Canyon University’s for-profit arm and its CEO, Brian Mueller, deceptively advertised the costs of its doctoral programs, misrepresented the non-profit status of the
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Education Dept Claims Advisory Committee Chair’s Appointment Was “Erroneous”
The Trump Administration, which has unlawfully fired Democrat-appointed officials across numerous federal agencies in its first six months, now claims that the appointment earlier this year of Zakiya Smith Ellis, a Democratic appointee, as chair of a key Department of Education advisory committee was “erroneous.” As the Wall Street Journal reported last week, the Department
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Trump Team Weakens Bipartisan Law That Protects Students and Veterans From Predatory Colleges
On the eve of the 4th of July holiday, when they probably hoped no one was paying attention, the Trump Department of Education issued an Interpretive Rule that will make it easier for for-profit colleges to evade regulations aimed at protecting students, and especially student veterans and military service members, from low-quality schools. The Department’s 90-10
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U Idaho – U Phoenix Deal is Finally Dead
It’s a busy week for me, but I want to acknowledge, since we have focused on it here for more than two years, that the absurd deal for the University of Idaho to purchase the predatory for-profit University of Phoenix is finally dead. That’s good news. A wide range of Idahoans stood up against a
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McMahon, Like DeVos, Declares Students, Not Scam Colleges, To Be the Fraudsters
Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education, billionaire Linda McMahon, has now echoed Trump’s last education secretary, billionaire Betsy DeVos, by claiming that fighting fraud in higher education means going after students, rather than holding accountable the predatory for-profit colleges and wealthy school owners who have repeatedly been caught deceiving students and taxpayers. Trump himself agreed to
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The Senate Shouldn’t Vote on Trump Higher Education Pick without a Hearing
Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health Education Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee, has declined to schedule a hearing prior to a committee vote, set for Thursday, on President Trump’s nominee to be Under Secretary of Education, Nicholas Kent. Having encountered Kent at dozens of Department of Education public hearings over the years,
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Trump Administration Cancels $37 Million Fine Levied Against Grand Canyon U For Deceiving Students
The Donald J. Trump administration, which claims its DOGE-driven reshaping of the federal government is aimed at cutting waste, fraud, and abuse, quietly cancelled a $37 million fine that the Department of Education, under the Biden administration, imposed in 2023 on Grand Canyon University. The fine was levied after Department investigators documented extensive findings that
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Trump Education Dept Says It Will Name Colleges Whose Grads Aren’t Repaying Loans
The Trump Department of Education announced two weeks ago that it planned to go hard at student loan borrowers who have not been repaying, declaring that on May 5 it would resume collections of defaulted loans. It was the previous Trump administration that halted collections, in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic. But
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