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.
Friday Night Massacre: DeVos Trashes Rule That Protected Students from Predatory Colleges
In an all-too-familiar turn, Trump education secretary Betsy DeVos chose a Friday afternoon to formally rescind a regulation that protected consumers and taxpayers — in this case the gainful employment rule, issued in 2014 by the Obama administration. The rule was aimed at denying federal dollars — in the form of student grants and loans
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Betsy DeVos, Meet Ralph from Comcast
Ralph, a Comcast technician, just spent two hours at my house working really hard and fixing my cable after another Comcast tech yesterday broke it while trying to upgrade my services. When he was done, Ralph promised to come back on his own time to make further upgrades on the wires. He’s an intelligent, diligent
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Trump Administration Cancels Meetings That Pro-Student Groups Sought on DeVos Rules
The Trump White House today notified student advocacy organizations that it was cancelling or refusing to schedule meetings to discuss the Department of Education’s new rules that relax accountability for colleges and college accreditors. The Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs sent emails to the Center for American Progress, the
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In NY Times, DeVos Aide Claims She Blew Whistle on Her For-Profit College
A New York Times article published this evening includes a tantalizing claim from Diane Auer Jones, Betsy DeVos’s top higher education aide: that she blew the whistle on for-profit Career Education Corp. (CECO), where she worked from 2010 to 2015 as senior vice president. The Times piece reports, referencing Jones, “She was the one who reported
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DeVos Effort To Save College Accreditor ACICS Is On Shaky Ground
When Diane Auer Jones, Betsy DeVos’s top higher education aide, testified last month before a House Oversight subcommittee, among the deceptive statements she made was her suggestion that a federal court decision compelled the Department of Education to reinstate the controversial for-profit college accreditor ACICS as a validator of schools’ eligibility for federal student grants
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Mueller’s Cop-Out
Robert Mueller’s statement this morning was exactly what I thought it would be: Mueller stuck precisely to the words of his report; made clear that if Congress forces his testimony, he will stick to the words of the report; implied there was a path forward with Congress, but didn’t say “impeachment”; praised his staff; but
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What I’m Telling Congress Today About Betsy DeVos
I’m testifying today before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy about the for-profit college industry and how it has been addressed by the U.S. Department of Education under Secretary Betsy DeVos. Other witnesses at the hearing will include Acting Under Secretary Diane Auer Jones, who is DeVos’s top higher education aide. You
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DeVos Department Denies Directing Dream Center to Deceive
In a new letter to Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and other members of Congress, Diane Auer Jones, Betsy DeVos’s top higher education aide, reaffirms the Department’s claim that it never advised Dream Center Education Holdings to publicly misrepresent its accreditation status — contrary to an allegation made to me last year, and reaffirmed again to
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