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On August 24, 2007, Simpson Thacher filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Petitioners in the United States Supreme Court in Boumediene v. Bush (No. 06-1195) and Al Odah v. United States (No. 06-1196). These two consolidated actions involve the rights of detainees held by the United States military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to petition for the writ of habeas corpus. Specifically, Petitioners in both Boumediene and Al Odah appeal from the D.C. Circuit's decision that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 precludes jurisdiction over detainees' pending habeas petitions and that such an ex post deprivation of jurisdiction does not violate the Suspension Clause of the Constitution.

The Simpson Thacher team, working from the Palo Alto office and in conjunction with Prof. Beth Van Schaack of the Santa Clara University Law School, filed the amicus brief on behalf of a distinguished group of international humanitarian law experts, including scholars, lawyers and a former principal of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The brief provided the Court with justifications, grounded in international law, to reverse the D.C. Circuit's ruling. The brief argued that the Third Geneva Convention provides prisoners of war with substantive and procedural rights and that, in considering whether to retain jurisdiction over Petitioners' pending habeas petitions, the Court should be mindful of these and other international legal obligations to which the United States is bound.

The Simpson Thacher team included partners Buzz Frahn and Patrick King, and associates Angela Moore, Adam Anderson and Michael Lizano, all of whom are resident in the Palo Alto office.