ATLANTA - A federal appeals court on Friday unanimously refused to reconsider the custody battle over Elian Gonzalez, paving the way for the boy's possible return to Cuba next week.
The 12-member 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the boy's Miami relatives' request for a rehearing and emphatically said it would not look at the case again.
''Any further requests for stays or for injunctive relief should be directed to the Supreme Court,'' said the ruling, written by Circuit Judge J.L. Edmondson. He said the appeals court will not grant any further motions for a stay - even putting the word ''not'' in boldface and large letters.
The court said its earlier stay requiring Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, to keep the 6-year-old boy in the United States will dissolve at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
A three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based court had ruled against the relatives earlier this month. The decision to grant a rehearing before the full court had to be approved by seven of the 12 judges; none of the 12 even asked for a vote on the question.
''We are pleased that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has acted unanimously in denying the motion for rehearing,'' Attorney General Janet Reno said in Washington. ''Now that the court has conclusively upheld our decision, I am hopeful that this father and son will soon be able to move on with their lives together.''
Armando Gutierrez, a spokesman for the Miami relatives, said the family's attorneys will file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday. Although the Supreme Court hears about 1 percent of the appeals it received, he said the family is not daunted by the long odds.
''The family does not feel defeated and they still have faith in God that the Supreme Court will accept the appeal in the same way God saved Elian from drowning,'' Gutierrez said.
Four of the nine Supreme Court justices must agree to hear an appeal. A single justice can grant a stay, or can opt to refer the question of a stay to the full court. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is the justice assigned to hear emergency matters from the 11th circuit.
In Washington, Gregory Craig, attorney for Juan Miguel Gonzalez, said he would meet with his client over the weekend to talk about his plans for the coming week.
''Juan Miguel is grateful that the 11th Circuit has denied the petition for the hearing and has lifted all stays and all injunctions as of Wednesday afternoon of next week,'' Craig said outside his Washington offices.
Bernard Perlmutter, a University of Miami law professor, said it is highly unlikely that the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn the appellate decision or even grant a hearing. He said the 11th Circuit's earlier decision was based on a Supreme Court decision in another case and it is not likely to reverse its course.
''The family should recognize that there is no purpose to any further appeals and that to prolong this process is to engage in an exercise in futility,'' Perlmutter said.
The Miami relatives argued that the three-judge panel was wrong to uphold an Immigration and Naturalization Service decision that Elian should return to Cuba with his father. They said INS decisions are not necessarily law and can be overturned by the courts.
In responses this week, attorneys for the Justice Department and the boy's father asked the full court to reject the relatives' appeal and dissolve an injunction keeping him and his son in the United States.
Elian was rescued off the Florida coast on Thanksgiving Day after his mother and 10 other people drowned when their boat sank en route from communist Cuba to the United States.
The INS decided the boy should be returned to his father. But the Miami relatives, who cared for Elian after his rescue, refused to relinquish him. On April 22, federal agents seized the boy and reunited him with his father in the Washington area.
Official bulletins on Cuba's on state-run television and radio said decision was ''favorable to Elian and his family,'' adding:
''However, we have to count on the near-absolute certainty that the 'mafia' and extreme right in the United States, using the five days granted them to appeal and maneuver, will not resign themselves to defeat or end their obsessive plan to obstruct and delay as much as possible the return of the boy and his family to Cuba.''
It was quiet Friday afternoon outside the Miami home where Elian lived with his U.S. relatives before he was taken by federal agents - only four demonstrators had gathered outside about an hour after the decision was announced.
''This country is a disgrace,'' said Reinaldo Martinez, a Miami painter. ''This entire case has been a theater between Clinton and the Cuban government.''