Changes

Unlike the district court level, where decisions are rendered by only one "trial" judge, the decisions rendered by the Court of Appeals is by a 3-judge panel.  It's an odd number to reduce the possibility of a tie vote.

Unlike the district court level, where decisions are rendered by only one "trial" judge, the decisions rendered by the Court of Appeals is by a 3-judge panel.  It's an odd number to reduce the possibility of a tie vote.

In rare cases of immense importance, such as abortion, the losing party may petition all the active judges on a Court of Appeals to "rehear en banc" a decision by a 3-judge panel.  The Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (or "the Eighth Circuit" for short) did exactly that in the past year to overturn a panel decision that favored abortion, and the en banc court voted 7-4 to uphold a good pro-life law in South Dakota.

In rare cases of immense importance, such as abortion, the losing party may petition all the active judges on a Court of Appeals to "rehear en banc" a decision by a 3-judge panel.<ref>Because of the Ninth Circuit's size, rehearings ''en banc'' in the Ninth Circuit consist of a panel of eleven judges: the chief judge and ten other randomly selected judges [http://www.gmsr.com/article/Taking%20it%20to%20the%20Banc.pdf]</ref> The Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (or "the Eighth Circuit" for short) did exactly that in the past year to overturn a panel decision that favored abortion, and the en banc court voted 7-4 to uphold a good pro-life law in South Dakota.

=== District Court ===

=== District Court ===