In what circumstances will the 9th Circuit Court issue an amended opinion that reverses a district court order denying relief in a civil rights lawsuit?

In Carver v. Lehman, 558 F.3d 869 (9th Cir. 2009), this court issued an amended opinion that affirmed a district court order denying relief in a civil rights lawsuit. While the original opinion had the effect of reversing the district court order by a two-to-one vote, one of the judges in the majority died before the mandate issued. His replacement on the panel joined the previously dissenting judge to form a new majority. The new majority noted, "[u]ntil the mandate has issued, opinions can be, and regularly are, amended or withdrawn, by the merits panel at the request of the parties pursuant to a petition for panel rehearing, in response to an internal memorandum from another member of the court . . . or sua sponte by the panel itself." Id. at 878-79. Accordingly, "the prior majority's holding in this case may or may not have survived until the mandate issued, but it was certainly not yet enshrined as a binding construction of the Constitution" at the time the original panel member died. Id. at 879.