[ehasbrouck]

Generally a case is heard "en banc" by a larger panel only as an appeal -- at the discretion of the court -- from an inital decision of a 3-judge panel. In most of the circuits, en banc rehearing is before all the judges of that circuit. The 9th Circuit is so large and has so many circuit judges that even en banc appeals are haeard by only a subset of the circuit judges. An en banc panel in the 9th Circuit consists of 11 judges: http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/general/2017/02/10/En_...