Supreme Court Rejects 9/11 Defendants' Plea Deal Appeals

The Supreme Court on Oct. 19, 2026, declined to hear appeals from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Mustafa al-Hawsawi and Walid bin Attash seeking to reinstate 2024 plea agreements that required guilty pleas and life sentences while removing the death penalty. The decision leaves in place a D.C. Circuit 2-1 ruling that then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin could revoke the deals. Susan Escallier, a retired brigadier general Austin appointed, approved the deals; Austin reversed her two days later. A military judge rejected the withdrawal because the defendants had begun performing by declining to question a key witness; a military appellate court upheld that ruling before the D.C. Circuit reversed. The cases are bin 'Atash v. US, 25-1335, and Mohammad v. US, 26-13. The men could face military commission trial in 2028 with the death penalty still possible. A military judge separately excluded Mohammed’s confession to FBI agents as involuntary. CNN legal analyst Steve Vladeck said a summer 2028 trial date appears unrealistic given outstanding issues. Mohammed was captured in a 2003 CIA operation in Pakistan and has been detained at Guantanamo Bay for two decades. The case has been delayed by disputes over proceedings and evidence tied to CIA torture.