The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid to revive plea agreements that would have spared Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 11 September 2001 attacks, and two co-defendants the death penalty, leaving the government free to pursue capital charges in a case that has remained unresolved for more than two decades.
The unsigned order leaves intact a July 2025 ruling by a federal appeals court upholding former US defence secretary Lloyd Austin's decision to cancel the agreements in August 2024. The deals would have required the three men to plead guilty in exchange for the government agreeing not to seek their execution. The justices did not explain declining to hear the appeal. Justice Brett Kavanaugh took no part in the decision.
