The Biden administration was successful in blocking a plea deal for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on Thursday, after a federal court issued an administrative stay of a hearing scheduled for Friday.
The alleged 9/11 mastermind was expected to plead guilty as part of a deal reached by military prosecutors that eliminated the death penalty as a possibility in his case.
“The purpose of this administrative stay is to allow the court time to receive full briefing on the mandamus petition, to hear oral argument on an expedited basis, and to render a decision on the petition and stay motion,” the order from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit read.
“The administrative stay should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that petition or motion.”
The order established deadlines for legal documents to be filed by Jan. 22, implying that the legal case will continue into the first days of the Trump administration.
On Tuesday, the Biden administration asked a federal court to stay the plea agreement for Mohammed and two other alleged 9/11 plotters, which Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin opposed.
The motion to stay the hearing came after a military appeals court ruled last week that Austin was not authorized to withdraw the plea agreement reached by military prosecutors.
Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi agreed to plead guilty to their roles in the 9/11 attacks in exchange for the abolition of the death penalty. Austin withdrew the agreement in August, just days after it was made public.
However, the military judge overseeing the case ruled that Austin lacked that authority, a decision upheld last week by the US Court of Military Commission Review.
Both military courts rejected the Defense Department’s argument that Austin had the right to withdraw from the plea agreement, in part because Mohammed and the other plotters began “performing promises” under the agreement by signing stipulations of their guilt before Austin signed his memo.
In its filings with the federal court, the administration claimed that was a misrepresentation of what actually occurred.
“The text of the agreements makes clear that signing the factual stipulations was part of the process through which the agreements were formed, not performance of a promise under the agreements once they were signed,” according to the Justice Department’s filing.
The Justice Department argued that proceeding with the plea hearings “will deprive the government and the American people of a public trial as to the respondents’ guilt and the possibility of capital punishment” for what the government described as “the most egregious criminal act on American soil in modern history.”
According to the administration’s filing, the 9/11 attacks were “a heinous act of mass murder that caused the death of thousands of people and shocked the nation and the world.”
The Military Commissions Act states that only the accused can appeal a commission’s decision to the D.C. Circuit. Nonetheless, the Biden administration has asked the appeals court for extraordinary relief, which is a directive from civilian judges to the commission recognizing Austin’s action as legitimate.
“The text of the agreements makes clear that signing the factual stipulations was part of the process through which the agreements were formed, not performance of a promise under the agreements once they were signed,” the petition filed by Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney general for national security, and Brian Fletcher, principal deputy solicitor general, stated.
