A military judge has decided to uphold plea agreements between the U.S. government and alleged 9/11 conspirators at Guantanamo Bay, drawing nationwide outrage.

Fraught with legal complications and delays, the case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa al Hawsawi has been ongoing for over two decades. Sheikh Mohammed, considered one of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s most trusted lieutenants, has confessed to planning the 9/11 attacks. He spent three years in secret CIA prisons after his capture in 2003 before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006.

The other two terrorists played crucial roles in the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor. Bin ‘Attash is accused of training two of the 9/11 hijackers, while Hawsawi is suspected of managing the financing the terror attacks.

Following their 2008 capture in Pakistan, the terrorists were charged with a litany of crimes, including conspiracy, murder, and terrorism. However, complications in bringing a solid case against them due to questionable interrogation tactics led to a plea deal in July that took the death penalty off the table. Following public outrage, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin attempted to revoke the deal.

According to judge Colonel Matthew McCall, the plea deal is “valid and enforceable,” and Austin’s intervention came too late to be effective. Under McCall’s ruling, the terrorists would be able to submit their guilty pleas as early as November 14, putting pressure once again on Austin, who vowed on Sunday to appeal. He will also seek a postponement of any hearing on the pleas.

Needless to say, the plea deal struck a raw chord with the families of the nearly 3,000 victims who died on September 11.

“While some may disagree, even in our own community, I don’t think the Biden administration should have worked to cut these deals in the first place,” Brett Eagleson, president of 9/11 Justice, said in a statement provided to CNN. “It doesn’t do a single thing to ease our pain or bring us closure. Nobody has listened to what we actually want/need, and that is closure.”

Even if the Defense Department wins its appeal, legal analysts say the path to death sentences remains virtually impossible, with constitutional challenges over torture and evidence likely to bog down any capital punishment verdicts in the D.C. Circuit Court for years.