I.O.P. 9.6: Procedure
Local Appellate Rules and Internal Operating Procedures of the Third Circuit — I.O.P. Chapter 9. En Banc Consideration
9.6.1 If the author is a visiting judge, justice, or a senior circuit judge, the ranking active or senior judge of this court on the panel majority receives responses to the petition, communicates with the clerk, signs the necessary orders, and has all the administrative responsibility set forth in this I.O.P.
9.6.2 An en banc hearing is held only at a regularly scheduled en banc session of the court, unless a majority of the active judges who are not disqualified, votes to expedite.
9.6.3 The chief judge, when requested by a majority of the en banc court, directs the clerk to advise counsel to submit supplemental briefs on specific issues or to be prepared to discuss at oral argument any other relevant issues.
9.6.4 A senior judge of this court may elect, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 46(c), to participate as a member of the en banc court reviewing a decision of a panel on which the senior judge was a member. That election may be made by letter to the clerk, with copies to all active judges, covering all cases on which the senior judge may thereafter sit, or may be made on a case by case basis. Any judge participating in an en banc poll, hearing, or rehearing while in regular active service who subsequently takes senior status may elect to continue participating in the final resolution of the case.