[Focault's Pendulum]

It's called an en banc (French for "on the bench") hearing and it happens regularly.

Not really.

So far, only the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, with 29 judges, utilizes that procedure, and its en banc court consists of 11 judges. Theoretically, the Ninth Circuit can hear the case with all judges participating. In practice, however, such a hearing has only been requested five times; the requests have all been denied.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, with 17 judges, is eligible to adopt a similar procedure and has done so in 1986. State of La. ex rel. Guste v. M/V TESTBANK, 752 F.2d 1019 (5th Cir. 1985) (en banc)

[BuckeyeTexan]

That is incorrect. All federal circuit courts use en banc procedure. See Rule 35 of Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. It is not used as frequently as it once was and it is certainly not favored, but it is not considered a rarity either.

Google "federal circuit en banc" for a list of en banc decisions.

As for happening regularly, I was referring to the request for an en banc review/hearing and not the review itself because that is what your original post referenced.

[BuckeyeTexan]

I now see that your information comes from Wikipedia. The text you cited refers to circuits with more than 15 judges being able to adopt a rule prescribing the number of judges for en banc review/hearing. The text has nothing to do with the frequency of en banc review/hearings in general.