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.
Biden Must Drain His Own Swamp If Dems Want to Prevail
There’s an accelerating effort by progressive organizations to press Joe Biden to strip from his campaign and transition effort, and, if he wins, keep out of his administration, people who have worked — as lobbyists, lawyers, and corporate executives — to advance special interest goals that harm regular Americans. Biden and his team must heed
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Inside Arthur Keiser’s College Empire: Troubling Evidence
A close look into Arthur Keiser’s college operations, based on accounts by former school officials and employees, raises new questions about predatory recruiting, conflicts of interest, executive misconduct, and the validity of the non-profit status of his schools. Southeastern College is a Florida-based for-profit career school offering programs in health care, information technology, and business.
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Questions About the University of Arizona-Zovio Deal
University of Arizona faculty and others are already asking tough questions about the deal, announced Monday to the campus community via a 3:00 am email, for the school to acquire Ashford University from the for-profit education company Zovio. Professors are asking why many of the faculty were not consulted or even notified in advance about the
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What We Face in America Today
Normally I don’t share my concerns this way. It’s not to be alarmist. It’s to say we have to fight back every day against all these things to save our country. 1. Deadly pandemic that Trump and Trump supporters keep spreading with their vile behavior.2. Trump and Barr planning to suppress votes, manipulate Post Office,
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Accreditor Again Smacks Carl Barney College Chains As Campuses Close
While Carl Barney has enjoyed waxing philosophic and holding fancy parties, the career college empire he built — which has included CollegeAmerica, Stevens-Henager College, California College San Diego, and the online Independence University — has kept getting into deeper trouble for its bad behavior, producing poor outcomes for many students and for U.S. taxpayers, even
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Do Arizona Taxpayers Want to Buy This For-Profit College?
For-profit company Zovio has just announced it is selling Ashford University to public University of Arizona for $1, but Zovio gets a lucrative 15-year contract to “service” the school. The arrangement looks eerily similar to the dubious deal where Indiana state university Purdue bought for-profit Kaplan, which had a record of abusing students, to create
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For-Profit College Group Warns Members They Are Being Targeted By High-Pressure Scam
Last week, the for-profit college lobby group CECU sent a message to its members entitled, “EMAIL SCAM ALERT.” It warns, “It has come to our attention that there is an email scam going around impersonating CECU and some members of the Board of Directors. If you have received an email requesting ‘gift cards for donation
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Win For Students, Loss for DeVos Department, on College Accreditor Fight
The U.S. Department of Education’s outside advisory committee, NACIQI, dominated by Republicans, voted 9-2 late this afternoon to reject the Department’s sham proposal, pushed by political appointees of Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos, to punish the accrediting agency Higher Learning Commission. DeVos aides are seeking to penalize HLC over its 2017 decision to suspend accreditation
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