The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear challenges to former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s withdrawal from plea agreements that would have spared three men accused of plotting the September 11, 2001, attacks from the death penalty.

The justices denied petitions from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Mustafa al Hawsawi, and a separate petition from Walid bin ’Atash, without explaining their reasoning. Justice Brett Kavanaugh did not participate in considering Mohammed and al Hawsawi’s petition.

The agreements, approved by the military commissions’ convening authority on July 31, 2024, required the defendants to plead guilty in exchange for the government foregoing the death penalty. Austin withdrew from the agreements two days later.

A military judge and the US Court of Military Commission Review subsequently concluded that the defendants had begun performing their obligations, preventing the government from withdrawing under military commission rules.

A divided panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected that conclusion in July 2025. The majority held that Austin had authority to withdraw and that the defendants had not begun performing the promises contained in the agreements.

In their petition for review, Mohammed and al Hawsawi challenged the appeals court’s authority to intervene through an extraordinary writ of mandamus and argued that its ruling conflicted with established limits on such relief. Monday’s denial leaves the appeals court’s ruling in place.