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.
FTC Exposes Egregious Deceptions by, Then Slaps Wrist of, For-Profit College Where DeVos Aides Worked
We reported last month on the for-profit college operation Career Education Corporation’s (CEC) announcement it had reached a settlement with Federal Trade Commission staff of an investigation into deceptive practices by the company. Now the FTC has announced that it has approved that settlement. Although the commission staff deserves credit for going after bad actor
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Why Is Delta Air Lines Steering Its Employees to Predatory Ashford University?
For-profit education provider Zovio recently announced it has partnered with Delta Air Lines in a deal that “allows eligible Delta employees to pursue associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Ashford University at a discounted rate.” Sounds generous. Except that Ashford University, which is tied to Zovio, has a long record of deceiving, overcharging, and abusing
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For-Profit College Where Top DeVos Aide Worked Is Paying $30 Million to Settle FTC Deception Probe
The giant for-profit college company Career Education Corporation (CEC) says it has agreed to pay $30 million to resolve a Federal Trade Commission investigation into whether it engaged in deceptive marketing to prospective students. The $30 million, which CEC says includes “restitution,” presumably for students, is a pittance compared to the billions of dollars —
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House Committee Will Question DeVos Aides Over Dream Center Deceptions
House Education and Labor Committee chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) has just raised the stakes in the battle over Betsy DeVos’s coddling of predatory for-profit colleges, sending a letter to the Trump Secretary of Education demanding that some of her top aides submit to transcribed interviews with the committee regarding the Department’s handling of the collapsed
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DeVos On Verge of Trashing Still More Protections Against Predatory Colleges
Today is the deadline to tell U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos your views about a proposed rule that would strip away some of the remaining protections for students and taxpayers against abuses by predatory for-profit colleges. You can submit a comment here. Feel free to borrow from what I just submitted. I have pasted
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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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