Bonds' appeals panel includes 5 judges who ruled federal seizures illegal in drug list case

Career home run leader king Barry Bonds gives a thumbs up while standing behind the hitting cage and watching the Houston Astros take batting practice before the start of their baseball game against the Oakland Athletics Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) (The Associated Press)

Career home run leader Barry Bonds, center, talks with Houston Astros special assignment coach Dan Radison, right, while watching the Astros take batting practice before the start of their baseball game against the Oakland Athletics Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) (The Associated Press)

SAN FRANCISCO – The 11-judge panel that will hear Barry Bonds' latest appeal of his obstruction of justice conviction includes five judges who ruled the federal government's seizure of baseball drug-testing samples and records a decade ago was illegal.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Monday the limited en banc panel that will hear oral arguments on Sept. 18 includes Chief Judge Alex Kozinski along with Circuit Judges Consuelo M. Callahan, William A. Fletcher, Michelle T. Friedland, Susan P. Graber, Jacqueline H. Nguyen, Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain, Johnnie B. Rawlinson, Stephen Reinhardt. N. Randy Smith and Kim McLane Wardlaw.

Kozinski wrote the opinion for the majority in 9-2 decisions in 2009 and 2010 that the seizure of the 2003 samples from Quest Diagnostics and records from Comprehensive Drug Testing was illegal.