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.
Trump Terrible 10: Tearing Children From Parents Edition pt. 2
If Trump is still president in 2020, and if he is defeated that November (neither givens, but both real possibilities), it may well be up to generals Mattis and Dunford, or whoever is left running the Pentagon, or maybe FBI director Wray, to make sure Trump actually vacates the White House on inauguration day. That
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Oil Companies and Lobbyists Say They’re Ready To Solve Climate Change. Check The Fine Print.
On Wednesday, former senators Trent Lott (R-MS) and John Breaux (D-LA) announced, with a big public relations blitz, a new campaign, Americans for Carbon Dividends, to address the threat of climate change. The effort is being heralded as a breakthrough by some because it is endorsed by big oil and gas companies Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell,
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Scott Pruitt Is An Ethics Nightmare, But So Is Ryan Zinke
A Westerner appointed to President Trump’s cabinet, he’s drawn attention for his penchant for expensive travel, vanity perquisites of office, abuse of agency staff time, and cozy personal financial deals with business executives whose industries he oversees. Meanwhile, he has denied the dangers of climate change, met extensively with corporate lobbyists, and gutted the environmental protections
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Trump and DeVos Trashing of Obama College Rules Will Hurt Students
Today Alexis Goldstein of Americans for Financial Reform and I met with officials of the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Education as part of the process of developing a Trump administration regulation that would repeal and replace the Obama administration’s gainful employment rule, which was aimed at protecting students
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Trump Terrible 10: Tearing Children From Parents Edition
They are tearing little children from their parents. And lying about it. What more do we need to know about this vile president and his ugly administration? We need a countdown, I guess. Since 2017, Republic Report‘s “Trump Terrible 10” has ranked the week’s 10 most disgraceful figures in Trump world. Republic Report, which focuses on how money
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Former Rep. Kline Continues Shilling for For-Profit Education
Rep. John Kline (R-MN) defended and protected for-profit higher education businesses while chairing the House education committee, even after many companies in the industry were caught engaging in widespread predatory and deceptive practices. Now that he’s retired, Kline is cashing in, serving on the board of Education Corporation of America (ECA), which operates poorly-performing for-profit
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Trump Terrible 10: Very Dishonest and Weak Edition
Trump finally found a champion pro athlete to praise. Huge surprise: That athlete is Russian and super-pals with Putin. But even if Ovechkin loves Putin, and Trump loves Ovechkin, we still love Ovechkin — for bringing D.C. fans a crown (cup) at last, and for being drunk and swearing in public in front of a
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ITT Tech CEO Is Sued For Serving Himself As Company Collapsed
Kevin Modany, the long-time CEO of the for-profit college chain ITT Tech, spent the months before the company’s collapse focused on increasing his financial take from the business and trying to preserve his reputation, rather than protecting ITT’s investors — let alone the interests of ITT students or of U.S. taxpayers, who have provided billions
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