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Supreme Court Declines To Revive Mohammed Plea Deal After Austin Revocation

United States

-/HO/AFP via Getty Images/Getty

-/HO/AFP via Getty Images/Getty

What Happened

On Oct. 19 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear appeals by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants seeking to revive plea deals that removed death penalty. By denying review the court left intact rulings upholding Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s revocation, clearing the way for military pretrial proceedings.

What Happened

On Oct. 19 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear appeals by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants seeking to revive plea deals that removed death penalty. By denying review the court left intact rulings upholding Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s revocation, clearing the way for military pretrial proceedings.

Where Sources Agree

  • arrows_inputSupreme Court Rejects Appeal: Sources uniformly report the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal regarding the plea deal for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed; this decision leaves a lower court ruling in place that upheld the revocation of the agreement, according to the Supreme Court docket.
  • arrows_inputPlea Deal Appeal Rejected: Sources align on the Supreme Court’s decision to decline an appeal seeking to revive 2024 plea deals for 9/11 suspects, noting that official court documents confirm former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin "indisputably had legal authority" to revoke the agreements, which would have spared the defendants the death penalty.
  • arrows_inputLong-Delayed Trial Timeline: Most outlets confirm that the prosecution of the 9/11 mastermind remains beset by two decades of legal gridlock, with a military tribunal scheduling the trial for June 2028, according to tribunal records.

Where Sources Disagree

  • arrows_outputPlea Deal Revocation Context: While the Trump administration continues to defend the plea deal revocation, other reports emphasize that the decision was originally executed by former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during the Biden administration.
  • arrows_outputRecusal Reporting Detail: Reports vary slightly in their detail, with some outlets noting Justice Brett Kavanaugh recused himself from the case, while others focus exclusively on the Court’s decision to reject the appeal without mentioning the recusal.
  • arrows_outputSupreme Court Appeal Scope: Reports vary slightly regarding the number of defendants involved in the appeal; while some sources focus on the three petitioners, others explicitly clarify that a fourth alleged plotter was not included in the request to the Supreme Court.

Timeline

October 19, 2026

Evidence Rulings, SCOTUS Denial: In August a military judge excluded Mohammed's confessions to FBI agents and an Air Force judge set a trial for June 2028, and on October 19, 2026 the Supreme Court declined to revive the 2024 plea deal, leaving the case to proceed toward a military trial amid continuing legal delays and unresolved evidentiary issues.

July 2025

Austin Revokes Deals; Appeals Follow: Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the 2024 plea agreements, saying the decision should rest with him, and the revocation prompted litigation culminating in a D.C. Circuit panel in July 2025 backing Austin's authority to withdraw from the agreements. The moves produced conflicting rulings and sustained legal disputes over who had the power to void the deals.

2024

2024 Plea Agreements Accepted: In 2024 Mohammed and two co-defendants reached pretrial plea agreements with military prosecutors that were signed off by a military commission judge and would have spared them the death penalty in exchange for guilty pleas and life sentences. The agreements were presented as a way to bring closure to the long-running case.

Perspectives and Debates

Does the Supreme Court's decision clear the path to a 2028 military trial or leave the prosecution weakened?

Summary by Ground AI

A varied selection of sources chosen by Ground to reflect the diversity of this story’s coverage.

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