Supreme Court Refuses to Revive 9/11 Plea Deals

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an effort to revive a plea deal for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Associated Press reports. The deal would have spared Mohammed the risk of execution in exchange for a guilty plea and a sentence of life in prison without parole.

CBS News reports the unsigned order also turned away appeals from co-defendants Mustafa al Hawsawi and Walid bin 'Atash. The three men were captured in 2003 and charged before a military commission with several crimes for their alleged roles in the attacks, five of which carry the death penalty, according to CBS News. Mohammed is accused of developing and directing the plot to crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon 25 years ago, the AP reports. Another hijacked plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.

The agreements were announced in 2024 after more than two years of negotiation, CNN reports. They required the accused to plead guilty to all charges and sit through a public sentencing hearing where family members and survivors could question them. Military prosecutors and the Pentagon's senior official for Guantanamo Bay had approved the deals before former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stepped in, according to the AP. Austin threw them out in 2024, saying a decision on the death penalty in an attack as grave as September 11 should rest with the defense secretary.

A military judge ruled in November 2024 that Austin's move was unlawful, and a military appeals court then said Austin could not rescind the deals because the defendants had begun to perform one of their terms, CBS News reports. The Justice Department asked the D.C. Circuit to step in, and that court sided with the government last year. A divided panel found Austin acted within his authority, the AP reports, and CNN reports the Trump administration has continued to defend that decision.

Relatives of the victims were split, according to the AP. Some said a trial is the best path to justice, while others saw the deals as the best hope of ending the long, painful case. CNN reports some groups representing victims and families pushed back against the agreements.

The judge overseeing the cases set a trial date of June 2028 in August, CBS News reports. That date depends on the parties meeting certain deadlines and milestones on time.