Cite as: 523 U. S. 538 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
case failed to communicate." 120 F. 3d, at 1067 (dissenting opinion). Another judge seconded the request and asked: "Was [the panel's January 17, 1997, notice of intention to reject the suggestion for rehearing en banc] circulated? Did I miss it?" Ibid. The author of the panel opinion denied the request for a belated en banc call, explaining that the requesting judges had been notified two months earlier of the panel's intention to reject Thompson's suggestion, id., at 1067-1068, which itself had circulated to every active judge of the court on August 5, 1996.
The panel stayed the issuance of its mandate pending Thompson's petition to this Court for certiorari review. We denied Thompson's petition on June 2, 1997. 520 U. S. 1259. The Court of Appeals issued its mandate on June 11, 1997. According to the en banc majority, "[a] sua sponte request to consider en banc whether to recall the mandate was made shortly thereafter, even before the mandate was spread in the district court." 120 F. 3d, at 1049. "[I]n the interests of comity," however, the court delayed further action until the California Supreme Court had denied Thompson's fourth state petition for habeas relief. Ibid. It was not until August 3, 1997—two days before Thompson was scheduled to be executed—that the Ninth Circuit voted to recall its mandate.
Measured even by standards of general application, the Court of Appeals' decision to recall the mandate rests on the most doubtful of grounds. A mishandled law clerk transition in one judge's chambers, and the failure of another judge to notice the action proposed by the original panel, constitute the slightest of bases for setting aside the "deep rooted policy in favor of the repose of judgments." Hazel-Atlas Glass Co., supra, at 244. This is especially true where the only consequence of the oversights was the failure of two judges to contribute their views to a determination that had been given full consideration on the merits by a panel of the court.
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