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.
Jury Awards $13 Million To Single Mom Deceived By For-Profit College Tied to Mitt Romney
On Friday a Missouri jury awarded $13 million in punitive damages to a single mother who had been deceived by for-profit Vatterott College. Vatterott, which has a long record of abusing students and leaving them deep in debt, is owned by TA Associates, a private equity firm financially tied to Mitt Romney’s own private equity
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For-Profit College Trade Group: Protectors of Bad Behavior
The main trade association of for-profit colleges, APSCU, seems to exist for the purpose of protecting the worst, most abusive, most predatory conduct by its member companies. Why else would the association, once again last week, attack the U.S. Department of Education for seeking to implement a law that simply requires career colleges that receive
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For-Profit College Analyst Says “Subprime” Students Are To Blame
A Wells Fargo stock analyst, who boosts for-profit colleges while frequently overlooking their abuses, lays the blame for one particularly predatory college’s high failure rate at the feet of low-income students, or, as he calls them, “subprime” students. Summarizing a presentation by Corinthian Colleges, which has one of the worst records of serving students of
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Romney Is Selling His Transition Report Even Though It Was Funded By Taxpayers
Under a federal law enacted in 2010, taxpayers now fund efforts by presidential nominees to begin their White House transition efforts even before the election, by providing federal services and facilities to the transition operation. Mitt Romney was the first recipient of this sensible reform aimed at ensuring a stronger start for a new president.
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What I Just Told the Obama Administration About For-Profit Colleges
The U.S. Department of Education is now engaged in a series of public hearings on higher education issues, including reforms to curb the abuses of predatory for-profit colleges. It is also accepting written comments from the public. I attended the opening hearing last week in Washington, DC, and I tweeted (May 21) about the powerful presentations
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Christie to Climate: Drop Dead
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie received widespread praise for his determined, and anti-partisan, work to aid his citizens in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy. But when it comes to protecting his state against future extreme weather assaults, Christie morphs into another know-nothing partisan. In an interview last week on NBC’s Today, Matt Lauer pressed Christie on
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Keystone Pipeline Not a Big Deal — Say Interests Supported By Oil and Gas Industry
Last week, the Washington DC publication National Journal gave us the scoop, in an article entitled, “What People Close to Obama Think About the Keystone XL Pipeline”: Obama-connected environmental experts “are now saying publicly what many Democratic energy and climate advisers have said more privately over the past couple of years: The Keystone XL pipeline is
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Leon Panetta and Marc Morial Join the Board of Corinthian, For-Profit College With Troubling Record
Corinthian Colleges announced today that Leon Panetta, until recently the U.S. Secretary of Defense, and Marc Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League, have joined the for-profit college company’s board of directors. In a field marked by ripoffs of students and taxpayers, Corinthian, which operates under the school names Everest, Heald, and Wyotech, has
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