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.
Corruption In Action: Koch Brothers Position Themselves for Mar-a-Lago Chat with Trump
Politico reports that on Saturday night Donald Trump had “a friendly chat” at his Mar-a-Lago resort with conservative mega-donor David Koch and his brother William Koch, both heirs to the giant Koch Industries chemical and fossil fuel conglomerate. It seems the Koch boys just happened to be having dinner at Trump’s club with conservative publisher
Continue Reading >>>
Breaking: DeVos Opposes Court Challenge to Obama Rule on For-Profit Colleges
It might just be career government lawyers doing their jobs, and doing them well, until the Trump Administration can catch up and work its malevolence, but in court papers filed today, the Trump Justice Department defended the Obama Administration’s gainful employment rule, a measure aimed at curbing predatory abuses by for-profit colleges. The rule penalizes
Continue Reading >>>
Operator of Corinthian Campuses in Public Tussle With Overseer
ECMC, the student debt collection operation that took over many of the campuses of notorious, collapsed for-profit Corinthian Colleges, is in a public spat with Clark Kent Ervin, the well-regarded lawyer charged with monitoring the integrity of programs at ECMC’s education subsidiary, Zenith. The dispute — a sharp back-and-forth in written exchanges — suggests what can
Continue Reading >>>
For-Profit Colleges Renew Efforts to Destroy Key Accountability Rule
Buoyed by the ascendancy of Donald Trump, America’s predatory for-profit colleges are renewing their multi-front fight to destroy a key measure to hold them accountable: the gainful employment rule. The new battle plan includes pushes in Congress and before the Betsy DeVos Department of Education, plus two new lawsuits aimed at the regulation, including one, in Arizona,
Continue Reading >>>
Pentagon Yields to McCain, Delegates College Probes to PriceWaterhouse
The U.S. Department of Defense has announced a new policy for addressing misconduct by colleges that receive DoD Tuition Assistance (TA) money to educate military service members. According to a report in Military Times, in unveiling its plan at a military education conference last week, “DoD stressed that its primary goal is to identify potential problems and
Continue Reading >>>
Sessions Leads The Pack, But At Least 6 Trump Cabinet Members Gave False Statements to the Senate
Attorney General Jeff Sessions provided a false statement in his confirmation hearing when Senator Al Franken (D-MN) asked him about possible “evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign,” and Sessions replied, “I’m not aware of any of those activities. I have been called
Continue Reading >>>
Court Win For Students Over Predatory For-Profit Colleges
Minutes ago, United States District Judge Reggie Walton denied a motion filed by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) for a preliminary injunction that would have blocked the U.S. Department of Education from proceeding with the de-recognition of the organization. ACICS needs Department recognition in order for the colleges it accredits to
Continue Reading >>>
Trump, Putin, Exxon: What Is Russiagate Really About?
This article was co-written with Kert Davies. Any analysis of Russiagate, and the fateful phone calls between Michael Flynn and Russia’s ambassador to the United States, must address the critical fact that U.S. sanctions on Russia are severely damaging Vladimir Putin’s economic power. In particular, these sanctions — imposed by Barack Obama, supported by Hillary
Continue Reading >>>