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.
We’re At The Point of Authoritarianism Now
We’ve had the rule of law in this country since 1776, when the colonies declared independence from King George III of England. Our democracy has been deeply flawed in many ways since then. But we’ve never gone as backward, and downward, as we have since inauguration day 2025. We’re right at the point of authoritarianism
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States, Suing Trump Over Gutting of Education Dept., Cite Threat of Predatory College Abuses
Twenty-one Democratic state attorneys general sued President Trump and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon today, 48 hours after the Department of Education announced it was firing more than 1,300 employees, which, combined with previously Trump-Musk efforts to cull the staff, reduced the employee roster to less than half of the 4000+ person team that was
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For-Profit College Barons Backed Trump, But Now May Be Scared
Many top for-profit college industry owners supported Donald Trump’s bid to return to the White House. They had benefitted when, during Trump’s first term, his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, largely ended federal regulatory and enforcement efforts to hold for-profit schools accountable for deceiving students and ripping off taxpayers. But some industry barons, having contributed to
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University of Phoenix Reportedly Considering Public Offering or New Buyer
Bloomberg reports that the private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Vistria Group are considering a sale or an initial public offering for the for-profit school they jointly own, the University of Phoenix. Unnamed sources told Bloomberg an IPO could occur as soon as the third quarter of 2025. For the past two years, Phoenix’s
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Federal Advisory Committee Should Denounce Trump-Musk Assault on Higher Education
Today I presented brief comments at a meeting of NACIQI, the U.S. Department of Education’s advisory committee charged with reviewing the performance of the private accrediting agencies that oversee quality and integrity at American colleges and universities. With only three minutes allowed for my comments, I delivered a slightly shorter version of the remarks below:
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Civil Rights Groups Sue Facebook and Instagram For Targeting Predatory College Ads at Black Users
A nonprofit advocacy group sued Meta this week, contending that the tech giant’s Facebook and Instagram platforms facilitate the targeting of ads for for-profit colleges to Black users, while disproportionately steering ads for public and non-profit colleges to white users. The lawsuit, filed in the District of Columbia Superior Court on behalf of the
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College Owner Returns to Board of Accreditor That Placed Her School on Warning
A for-profit college owner whose schools were in direct violation of the rules of their accreditor, ACCSC, has returned to a seat on the board of that accreditor after only a brief absence. Carol Palacios, executive director of Miami’s Atlantis University, was serving as chair of the commission at ACCSC around the time that board
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U of Idaho President Seems To Temper His Cheerleading for U of Phoenix Purchase
In testimony Monday before a joint committee of the Idaho legislature, University of Idaho president C. Scott Green seemed a little less committed to the deal he has relentlessly touted for more than a year and a half — for his school to buy, for $685 million, the huge for-profit University of Phoenix from private
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