By WILLIAM GLABERSON

         The federal appellate court decision on Wednesday preventing Elián
         González from leaving the country showed that the courts are rarely
          a place to get quick answers to the kinds of volatile questions raised
          by the battle over 6-year-old Elián.

          As they studied the decision, legal experts said yesterday that they could
          see the beginnings of a protracted tug-of-war over the Cuban boy in court.
          They said court proceedings could extend into next year, during which the
          boy may be kept in this country either with his father or with his Miami
          relatives.

          "I think Elián will be celebrating Christmas in the United States," said
          Richard D. Freer, a professor at the Emory University School of Law in
          Atlanta. In its decision on Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the United
          States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, directed that the
          boy should not leave the country while that court considers the full case:
          whether immigration officials were correct in rejecting an asylum
          application filed by the boy's Miami relatives.

          The Supreme Court could eventually enter the fray, either at the request of
          the federal government or the boy's relatives in Miami. Professor Freer, a
          specialist in federal court litigation, said it was too early to tell whether the
          Supreme Court would agree to review whatever is the 11th Circuit Court's
          final ruling.

          That ruling is not expected until mid-May at the earliest. Some weeks or
          months could pass if either side then asked the full 12-member 11th Circuit
          Court to reconsider the panel's decision.

          Then, if the Supreme Court were asked to consider the case, it might be
          October before the justices decided whether to take it on, lawyers said,
          and it could be months after that before the justices would issue a decision.

          Although the courts are known for their slow pace, several experts said the
          political context of the case underscored the sharp differences between the
          judicial system and the other branches of government, which can
          sometimes shift course in a matter of days.

          "What you are seeing here is a clash of two worlds," said Michael C. Dorf,
          a professor at Columbia Law School. "The political system needs to move
          on an expedited basis and the court system is not persuaded to depart from
          its deliberate procedures."

          The 11th Circuit Court is evaluating the case on a far faster schedule than
          it normally provides for appeals. The Miami relatives filed an asylum
          application for Elián last winter, but federal immigration officials refused to
          consider it. In a ruling in March, a federal district judge in Miami sided with
          the government. Elián's Miami relatives then appealed to the court in
          Atlanta.

          But the appeals court has yet to hear lawyers' arguments on the central
          issue in the case, which is whether immigration officials were correct in
          their decision that only Elián's father could speak for the boy in deciding
          whether to seek political asylum. The arguments are scheduled to be heard
          on May 11.

          In its interim decision on Wednesday, the three-judge appellate court panel
          suggested that immigration officials could have at least interviewed Elián to
          learn whether he had any views on whether he wanted asylum.

          If the court were to decide that the immigration officials should legally
          have interviewed Elián, the ruling might be on narrow grounds. The
          officials might still be permitted to decide, after interviewing him, that Elián
          lacked the necessary maturity to speak for himself.

          Still, even such a technical victory could be important for the boy's relatives
          in Miami. New hearings might be required, and immigration officials might
          be ordered to interview Elián.

          Delay, legal experts said, can only help the Miami relatives in their standoff
          with the government.

          Courts have said children as young as 12 can decide whether to apply for
          asylum. There is no minimum age, but legal experts have said they doubted
          any court would direct that immigration officials accept a 6-year-old's
          asylum application.

          Berta E. Hernández-Truyol, a professor of international and immigration
          law at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law in Gainesville,
          suggested that the Miami relatives could make the legal battle last so long
          that Elián could grow up enough during the court process to be considered
          old enough to speak for himself.

          "A delay of a year and a half makes Elián 8, which could start this whole
          process all over again," Professor Hernández-Truyol said. "Eight," she said,
          "is not 6."