Analysis: Post-9/11 executive power expansion threatens checks and balances
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This City Journal article, published on September 10, 2026, examines the legacy of the 9/11 attacks, focusing on the expansion of executive power. Michael W. McConnell argues that every president since George W. Bush has invoked emergency powers declared after 9/11 for crises like the 2008 financial crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, and tariffs, posing a grave danger to constitutional checks and balances. The article also features an investigation by Christopher F. Rufo and Madeleine Rowley into California Home Health Agency (CHHA), whose Medicaid profits surged from under $2 million (2018-2021) to over $34 million (2021-2024), with experts suggesting billing patterns raise questions. Additionally, Stu Smith reports on a growing network of pro-North Korea groups in the U.S., such as Nodutdol, which portray North Korea as democratic and advocate for South Korea's 'liberation' from U.S. influence, posing threats to regional security and potentially aligning with Chinese Communist Party interests.
Source report
Good morning,
Today, we’re looking at increasing executive power since 9/11, California Home Health Agency’s questionable profits, and North Korea’s apologists in the U.S.
Write to us at editors@city-journal.org with questions or comments.
Now, on to the news…
The Emergency Presidency at Twenty-Five
Photo credit: Handout / Handout / Getty Images News via Getty Images
Twenty-five years ago, after the September 11 terrorist attacks, then-President George W. Bush declared a national emergency, stating that the dangers were “immediate” and “continuing.”
Every president since Bush has invoked those same extraordinary powers—for the 2008 financial crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, and tariffs, among many other scenarios. “Not surprisingly, each pitted emergency response against civil liberties, and each left the White House playing a more dominant role in the American republic,” Michael W. McConnell writes. “The president’s ability to seize power by declaring emergencies has become a grave danger to our constitutional system of checks and balances.”
Read more
How Did This Nigerian Chief Make Millions From Medicaid?
Since at least 2013, California Home Health Agency (CHHA), a taxpayer-funded company, has provided in-home medical care and specialty treatments. CHHA’s profits from Medicaid between 2018 and 2021 were just shy of $2 million. Over the next three years, that number skyrocketed to more than $34 million.
Chief Nathan Ogbatue, CHHA’s CEO, holds a massive real-estate portfolio that shows a similar trajectory:
- In 2000, he bought a home in Riverside for $330,000.
- In 2023, he and his wife bought a $2.7 million mansion, then a $1.9 million beach house later that year.
- In 2024, they purchased $2.8 million in other Riverside properties.
How did Ogbatue acquire so much wealth?
“No officials have publicly accused CHHA of wrongdoing,” Christopher F. Rufo and Madeleine Rowley write. “Two experts we spoke with, however, suggested that the company’s billing patterns raise questions. Haywood Talcove, CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions for Government, reviewed CHHA’s Medicaid data and noted several potential issues.”
Read more from their investigation
The Growing Army of North Korea Apologists in America
In recent years, a number of pro-North Korea groups have cropped up in the U.S., gaining both acceptance among the political Left and influence across South Korea, Japan, and Canada. They “portray totalitarian North Korea as one of the world’s most democratic countries,” Stu Smith explains, and they push for South Korea’s “liberation” from the U.S.
Nodutdol, a 501(c)(3) organization, sits at the center of the network. The group advocates for a Marxist future on the Korean Peninsula and for “a world free of imperialism.”
“The pro-North Korean network’s growing reach among American activists and transnational organizations poses threats to regional security and could weaken U.S. alliances in East Asia—often in ways that align with the strategic interests of the Chinese Communist Party,” Smith writes. “Nodutdol and its allies offer a unique opportunity for American, Japanese, Filipino, and South Korean intelligence to cooperate and share intelligence.”
Read more about the expanding network
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In the News
- AI Nihilism Won’t Save The Water Or Create Jobs. But It Will Empower China. – Manhattan Institute Web Developer Matias Ahrensdorf in The Daily Wire
- Joyful Spending Is America’s Guilty Pleasure – Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Allison Schrager in Bloomberg
- The DOJ Pursues New Actions Targeting Alleged Parental Rights Violations and More – Gender Debrief newsletter
Editors’ Picks
- What Mohamed Atta Was Trying to Tell Us – Ayaan Hirsi-Ali in Tablet
- Lower Manhattan seemed finished after 9/11. We knew better. – Michael R. Bloomberg
Source
City JournalWestern