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.
The Latest On For-Profit College Ripoffs: Tonight’s NBC Expose And More
High-priced lobbyists representing for-profit colleges, an industry largely created by K Street pressure over a decade, continue to do everything possible to avoid accountability for that industry’s waste, fraud, and abuse with $32 billion a year of your tax dollars. Many on Capitol Hill do the bidding of these wealthy companies and get campaign contributions in
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Romney aide’s hypocritical attack on Obama “crony capitalism”
On Sunday’s CNN “State of the Union,” Mitt Romney senior advisor Ed Gillespie explained how a second Obama Administration would reward its rich friends: “If you’re a political donor to Barack Obama, you’re going to do fine, because you’re going to get a payoff.” This statement was pure hypocrisy: “a feigning to be what one is
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Cuomo Calls For Curbing Money In Politics, But Will Money Influence His Decision on Fracking?
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that reducing the role of money in politics will move to the top of his agenda: He will begin a push for campaign finance reform in the state. This is great news. But some are questioning whether Cuomo is ready to put his money where his mouth is
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New For-Profit College Lobbyist Is Long-Time Champion of Troubling Policies
The nation’s major for-profit colleges show no sign that they are ready to accept the inevitable: that in a time of enormous budget pressures, they cannot continue to siphon off 32 billion dollars a year in federal student aid for high-priced, low-quality programs that often leave students without jobs and deep in debt. They show
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5 Reasons Why A Judge’s Decision To Strike Down A Predatory College Rule Won’t Stop Reforms
Over the weekend, a federal trial judge in Washington, DC, upheld the power of the federal government to issue its “gainful employment” rule, a provision aimed at channeling federal financial aid away from college and career training programs that leave students deep in debt. But the judge, Rudolph Contreras, held that the U.S. Department of Education failed
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As States Act To Shut Down Deceptive Website, Durbin Says For-Profit Colleges “Own Every Lobbyist” In DC
On Wednesday, 20 state attorneys general announced a court settlement with QuinStreet Inc., a marketing company working for for-profit colleges, that will shut down the deceptive website GIBill.com and turn that web address over to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. GIBill.com, until recently, looked a lot like a government website. But people who went
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Romney’s Full Sail, WashPost’s Kaplan Among Colleges Flunking Federal Test By Leaving Students In Debt
On Tuesday, the federal government released information about which career training programs and for-profit colleges are passing — and which are flunking — its new “gainful employment” rule. The Obama Administration watered down this regulation last year after a massive lobbying campaign by the for-profit college industry, and the rule imposes only the most minimal
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Bush Gaffe — Telling For-Profit Colleges That Govt Should Demand Results For Taxpayer Money — Is Met With Silence
The annual convention of the biggest association of for-profit colleges, APSCU, concluded last Friday in Las Vegas. Republic Report wanted to cover the event, because we all helped pay for it: Taxpayers provide $32 billion a year to this industry — for some schools, over 90 percent of their revenue. These corporations could strive to
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