Supreme Court declines to revive 9/11 plea deals for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and co-defendants

On October 19, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review appeals from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Mustafa al-Hawsawi, and Walid bin 'Attash, upholding former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's revocation of their 2024 plea deals. The agreements would have removed the death penalty in exchange for guilty pleas. The ruling leaves the long-delayed military trial at Guantanamo Bay scheduled for June 2028, though ongoing evidence disputes regarding prior CIA torture continue to complicate prosecution efforts.

Supreme Court appeal over plea deals

• ▪A fourth alleged September 11 plotter earmarked for trial, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, was not involved in the Supreme Court appeal by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants
• ▪The U.S. Supreme Court on October 19, 2026 declined, without an accompanying opinion or explanation, to hear appeals from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Mustafa al-Hawsawi, and Walid bin 'Attash to revive their 2024 plea agreements that would have spared them execution
• ▪Defense attorneys for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed argued to the Supreme Court that the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals lacked legal jurisdiction to hear the government's challenge to a military judge's ruling against Austin's revocation of the 2024 plea deal
• ▪Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the Supreme Court to reject the appeals of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants, arguing that decisions regarding the death penalty should be made by politically accountable officials
• ▪Justice Brett Kavanaugh recused himself from consideration of the Supreme Court petitions filed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Mustafa al-Hawsawi seeking to reinstate their 2024 plea deals

Revocation of the plea deals

• ▪Former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the 2024 plea agreements, which would have spared them the death penalty, for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants two days after they were accepted by the Guantanamo war court official
• ▪Lloyd Austin asserted that the authority to remove the death penalty in the September 11 military commission prosecutions of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed rested solely with the Defense Secretary
• ▪A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in a 2-1 vote in July 2025 that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin possessed legal authority to withdraw from the 2024 plea deals for Mohammed

Terms of the 2024 plea agreements

• ▪2024 plea agreements accepted by military prosecutors would have spared Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Mustafa al-Hawsawi, and Walid bin 'Attash the death penalty in exchange for guilty pleas and life sentences without parole
• ▪Under the 2024 plea agreements, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants would have undergone a public sentencing hearing to answer questions from family members and survivors of the September 11, 2001 attacks

Impact of CIA torture on military trial

• ▪The military commission proceedings against the September 11 defendants have experienced 14 years of delays due to legal disputes regarding CIA torture and evidence admissibility
• ▪A military judge in August 2026 suppressed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's confession to FBI agents on the grounds that it was not given voluntarily following prior CIA torture
• ▪Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded and subjected to interrogation measures in secret CIA prisons prior to his transfer to Guantanamo Bay in 2006