BY JAY WEAVER

 A federal appeals court judge Tuesday barred Elian Gonzalez from being taken anywhere
 in the United States outside the control of the courts, such as the Cuban mission in Washington,
 D.C., or a Cuban official's home with diplomatic immunity.

 ''Elian Gonzalez is enjoined from going to any place within the United States lying beyond
 the power and jurisdiction of the courts of the United States,'' U.S. Circuit Judge James L.
 Edmondson ruled.

 Earlier Tuesday, attorneys for the 6-year-old boy asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
 in Atlanta to prevent his father Juan Miguel Gonzalez from taking him to Cuban property
 in the United States because Cuban officials ''could simply put Elian on a plane . . . bound
 straight to Cuba or a third-country way station.''

 Last week, a three-judge appellate panel that included Edmondson ruled that the
 child could not be removed from the United States until his appeal seeking a political
 asylum petition is concluded. Oral arguments are set for May 11.

 On Tuesday, the boy's attorneys also asked the appellate court to appoint an
 independent guardian to assess the best interests of Elian during his appeal because
 neither his Miami relatives nor his lawyers nor any of the relatives' medical experts
 can gain access to him now that he is with his father outside the Washington, D.C.,
 area.

 Edmondson, in asking the government to respond to the attorneys' request by today,
 seemed to be open to the idea of naming a guardian.

 ''In their writing, [Justice Department officials] should especially explain why the
 court should not now appoint someone . . . to report to the court directly on the
 plaintiff's condition.''

 After the seizure of Elian from his great-uncle's house on Saturday, Elian's Miami
 relatives and one of their lawyers tried to visit with Elian outside Washington. But
 Elian's father, who flew from Cuba earlier this month, rejected their requests.

 Kendall Coffey, another of the relatives' attorneys, said that chilly reception left
 them with no recourse but to ask the appellate court to appoint a guardian who
 would have the authority to talk with both sides and make a recommendation to
 the three-judge panel.

 Coffey said a guardian is necessary to make sure the child is not influenced by
 Cuban diplomats to change his mind about requesting asylum.

 To support this claim, Coffey filed an affidavit that says Attorney General Janet
 Reno told four negotiators gathered in Herald Publisher Alberto Ibargüen's office
 on Saturday that she had ''no knowledge of who was with the child and no
 authority to limit access to the child.''

 Meanwhile on Tuesday, one of the United States' preeminent constitutional
 scholars, Laurence Tribe, joined critics of the raid, saying he believed the search
 warrant was invalid.

 Tribe, a Harvard law professor recognized as a constitutional law authority, called
 ''absurd'' the government's position that Elian was an illegal alien.

 ''He has an asylum petition pending,'' Tribe said.

 He also criticized the government's position that Elian was ''concealed'' at Lazaro
 Gonzalez's house a misrepresentation. ''It's as absurd as saying Janet Reno is
 being concealed at the Justice Department,'' he said.

 Tribe initially voiced his criticisms in an opinion piece in The New York Times on
 Tuesday. When he wrote the piece, he had not read the affidavit the government
 filed with U.S. Magistrate Robert Dube in requesting the search warrant.

 In its request, the government said Elian was an illegal alien and that Lazaro
 Gonzalez was illegally restraining the boy in his home. The Immigration and
 Naturalization Service routinely obtains such warrants for removing immigrants
 with no legal status. But after reviewing the affidavit Tuesday, Tribe said he still
 thought the warrant was invalid.

 Herald staff writer Mark Seibel contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald