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.
DeVos Deputy Slaps Accreditor HLC Anyway
In July, a Department of Education outside advisory committee, dominated by Republicans, rejected, by a 9-2 vote, an absurd and outrageous effort by Betsy DeVos aides to punish accreditor Higher Learning Commission (HLC) for its role in the meltdown of the Dream Center Education Holdings (DCEH) chain of career colleges. Background: In late 2017, HLC
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Ten Reasons Trump is the Most Corrupt President in U.S. History
This website focuses on corruption of American politics and policy, so we’ve been busy for four years. Donald Trump, with a few months left in his presidential term, is the most corrupt president in U.S. history — meaning he has, more than any predecessor, used his powerful job to advance his own financial, political, and
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The Last Time Trump Pushed a Foreign Regime To Influence Our Elections Was … Yesterday
In July 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump publicly called on Russia to hack the email account of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton — something that Russian intelligence operatives attempted that same day. A month earlier, Trump’s son, son-in-law, and campaign chairman had met with a Russian lawyer in Trump’s offices on the promise that
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After Students Testify, Judge Slaps DeVos For Wholesale Rejection of Loan Relief
Late Monday, a federal judge rejected a settlement of a class action lawsuit brought by former students who say they were defrauded by their for-profit colleges and want Betsy DeVos’s Department of Education to stop delaying action on their claims to have their student loan debt cancelled. Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court
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Should America Do A Dirty Deal With Trump to Get Rid of Him?
You know the scenario already. Late on election night, or in the days right after, Joe Biden appears to be the clear winner of the presidential election. But President Trump, who already has told his supporters that the only way Biden can win is through electoral fraud, files a series of lawsuits contesting ballots in
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Independence University CEO Tells Staff School Will Fight Effort to End Taxpayer Funding
The CEO of a troubled chain of career colleges has emailed his employees vowing to contest an effort to cut off taxpayer aid to his schools and saying “it broke my heart” when he concluded that one of his employees had forwarded a previous email to a web outlet, namely this one. Eric Juhlin, the
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DeVos Must Cut Off Taxpayer Dollars to College Chain Hit With Fraud Verdict
Nineteen organizations, and I, just sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, asking her to obey the law and cut off taxpayer dollars to colleges operated by a non-profit organization called the Center for Excellence in Higher Education (CEHE). We’re also asking DeVos to cancel the federal student debt of people
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COVID Questions for Amy Coney Barrett
Do you question the scientific evidence that the coronavirus causing COVID-19 is highly contagious? Do you question that almost 215,000 Americans have died of COVID-19? Dr. Anthony Fauci and other experts have called the White House event where President Trump announced your nomination a super spreader event for COVID-19. More than 20 people who attended
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