An appeals court Monday denied a request from The Herald to unseal the most recent report on Elian Gonzalez by two mental health experts because releasing the report would go ''against the interests of the child.''

 In a four-page ruling, 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James Edmondson said the public and press generally have a right of access to judicial records, but not in this instance.

 ''A court may seal, in its discretion, a judicial record (or a portion of the record) for good reason,'' Edmondson wrote. ''In deciding whether a judicial record should be sealed, the court must balance the relevant interests and consider the totality of the circumstances.''

 The reports by two federal government-hired experts reflect on the boy's mental health and behavior since the Immigration and Naturalization removed the 6-year-old from his Miami relatives' home and reunited him with his Cuban father on April 22.

 The INS filed the reports as open court records last Wednesday, but Edmondson and two other appellate judges sealed them. The three-judge panel soon will decide whether the boy is entitled to a political asylum hearing.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald