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.
For-Profit Colleges Attack New Effort To Prevent Fraud With $32 Billion of Your Tax Dollars
The for-profit college industry gets about $32 billion of its approximately $35 billion annual revenue from federal financial aid. Fifteen of the largest for-profits get 86 percent of their money from federal student aid programs – such as Pell grants, student loans, and the G.I. Bill. Yet every time someone proposes making their schools more
Continue Reading >>>
For-Profit Colleges: Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old
Since former Congressman Steve Gunderson (R-WI) was named in January as the new head of the largest for-profit college association, APSCU, there has been talk that he might take a “kinder, gentler” approach to leading the troubled industry, which has pursued a take-no-prisoners lobbying approach in Washington. But having read Gunderson’s pronouncements in recent months, and
Continue Reading >>>
4-Year Students At For-Profit Colleges Graduate Less Than Half As Often As Other Students, But Their Schools Do Create Jobs — For Lobbyists
A brand-new report from the National Center for Education Statistics confirms once again that for-profit colleges are failing to help many of their students. These schools, many marked by deceptive recruiting, low-quality programs, and sky-high prices, have 13 percent of U.S. students but nearly 50 percent of student loan defaults. The for-profit college industry gets most of its
Continue Reading >>>
Time For Businesses Behind ‘Shoot First’ Law To Take Responsibility, Quit ALEC – Republic Report Joins Coalition Effort Challenging Corporations
The story of Trayvon Martin is, first and foremost, a tragedy for his family, and our hearts go out to them. It’s also about things that need to change, including how powerful interests use their superior resources to distort the processes of government — in this case a well-funded private group, fueled by donations
Continue Reading >>>
Sen. Rubio Supports Veterans Education Bill Despite For-Profit College Lobbyists “Hammering” His Office
If he’s auditioning to be Mitt Romney’s running mate, then perhaps Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) just swung at a pitch and missed. But if he meant to stand up for honest government and for America’s veterans, which apparently he did, then Rubio just hit a home run. And, as a result, a high-priced team of
Continue Reading >>>
Private organizations charge citizens up to $849 to read a federal law
Imagine a country where the government makes laws and requires citizens to obey, yet citizens can’t read some of those laws unless they purchase the text, sometimes for a large amount of money, from a private organization. Imagine a country where a citizen posts the building safety laws of his own town on a website
Continue Reading >>>
EXCLUSIVE: Leaked Memo Reveals That House GOP Leaders “Directed” For-Profit College Lobbying Strategy To Keep Federal Money Flowing
For-profit colleges like ITT, DeVry, Kaplan, and the Art Institutes — sometimes called subprime schools because they leave many students deep in debt while taking billions of dollars from taxpayers — continue an expensive lobbying push to influence Congress and avoid accountability. Republic Report has received a 2011 draft strategy memo by the biggest for-profit college
Continue Reading >>>
Why We’re Asking Congress To Take a Stronger Stand vs. K St Corruption
Today, Republic Report announced that we are asking all 34 retiring members of Congress to make a simple, common sense commitment: “I will disclose any negotiations or offers for jobs on the front page of my congressional website.” This afternoon we are delivering letters to all 34 congressional offices seeking this commitment. We want you
Continue Reading >>>