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En banc, in banc, or in bank is a term used to refer to the hearing of a case by all the judges of a court. Appellate courts in the United States sometimes grant rehearing en banc to reconsider a decision of a panel of the court (a panel generally consisting of only three judges), where the case concerns a matter of exceptional public importance or the panel's decision appears to conflict with a prior decision of the court. In rarer instances, an appellate court will order hearing en banc as an initial matter, instead of the panel hearing it first.

Some appellate courts, such as the Supreme Court of the United States and the highest courts of most U.S. states, do not sit in panels, but hear substantially all of their cases en banc.

Cases in United States Courts of Appeals are heard by a three-judge panel. A majority of the active circuit judges may decide to hear or rehear a case en banc. Parties may suggest en banc hearings to the judges, but they have no right to them. Federal law states en banc proceedings are disfavored but may be ordered in order to maintain uniformity of decisions within the Circuit or if the issue is exceptionally important. Each Court of Appeal also has particular rules regarding en banc proceedings. For example, the First Circuit will not hear a case en banc if the three-judge panel was unanimous. In several Circuits, only an en banc court or a Supreme court decision can overrule a prior decision in that Circuit. Pub L. No. 95-486 states that for Courts with more than 15 judges, an en banc hearing will consist of 15 judges of the circuit. So far, this only applies to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, with 28 judges, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, with 17 judges.

California prefers to use English versions of legal terms whenever possible. Thus, one occasionally sees the inscription "in bank" on California Supreme Court opinions published before the court began routinely sitting en banc on all cases (prior to 1960, most cases were disposed of by three-justice panels). In French, en banc means "in bench", which seems a more appropriate translation than "in bank" given that judges sit, as a group, on the "bench".

9th Circuit press release regarding increasing en banc to 15 judges

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