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.
Beware: For-Profit College Scammers Will Exploit the COVID-19 Crisis
With thousands of people dying or imperiled by the global COVID-19 pandemic, and millions losing their jobs and their businesses across the country, it’s difficult to keep track of all the challenges our society faces. But one that Republic Report will keep focusing on is consumer scams: dishonest operators who will seek to profit
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Trump Pardoning Flynn, Amid Pandemic, Would Be Blatant Corruption
As the nation struggles to address the dangers of the spreading COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump decided to tweet Sunday that he was “strongly considering” a pardon for Michael Flynn, his former White House national security advisor. So now it is reported that, after destroying his life & the life of his wonderful family (and many
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After Bipartisan Repudiation of DeVos Student Loan Rule, What Will Trump Do?
In a stunning bipartisan rebuke of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, the Senate today voted 53-42 to overturn a new Department of Education rule that would make it nearly impossible for students ripped off by their colleges to have their federal student loans cancelled. Ten Republicans Senators — Shelley Moore Capito (WV), Joni Ernst (IA),
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VA To Cut Off GI Bill Funds For Two Big For-Profit Colleges, Maybe
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday that it plans to stop approving use of GI Bill dollars for veterans seeking to start education programs at two of the biggest for-profit college operations. One is Perdoceo, which runs American Intercontinental University and Colorado Technical University. The other is the University of Phoenix, long the
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Mar-a-Lago Secret Service Scandal Shows Depth of Trump Corruption
Newly-obtained government records show that Donald Trump’s company has charged the U.S. Secret Service at least $628,000 for rooms, at rates as high as $650 per night, at his Florida and New Jersey properties since 2017. Secret Service personnel have used taxpayer money to stay at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster resorts in connection with Trump’s
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Will DeVos Allow The Latest Troubling For-Profit College Trick?
A report this week from the news service Capitol Forum presents strong evidence that the for-profit college business Perdoceo, formerly Career Education Corp. (CEC), is using questionable tricks to avoid violating the federal 90-10 rule. That measure requires for-profit schools to obtain at least 10 percent of their revenue from sources other than grants and
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DeVos Fills Sole Student Slot on Outside Advisory Panel With A Former Aide
Trump education secretary Betsy DeVos has appointed, as the sole student representative on a key Department of Education outside advisory committee, a Michigan law student who until recently worked at the Department as a confidential assistant to DeVos’s top higher education aide, Diane Auer Jones. The advisory body, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality
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Blue Shield of California Is Steering Employees to College Sued by California for Fraud
On Tuesday, Blue Shield of California announced a new partnership with California-based for-profit education provider Zovio — a deal that offers employees of the non-profit health insurance company opportunities to attend Ashford University, a college formerly owned by, and now serviced by, Zovio. According to a press release, under the deal “full-time Blue Shield employees
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