The Extended Constitutional Chamber of Paraguay's Supreme Court of Justice has reportedly already defined the nine votes on the unconstitutionality action filed by former Senator Kattya González against her expulsion from the Senate in February 2024. According to information obtained by González herself, six justices voted against the action and three in favor, meaning there was no majority to overturn the removal from office.
The Court's central argument would be the non-justiciability of acts by the Legislative Branch, meaning the tribunal would not enter into the merits of the disciplinary power that the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies exercise over their peers. The former senator, however, maintains that the Court could have conducted a constitutionality review of due process, since it concerns a constitutional guarantee.
González filed the action in late February 2024 and has since submitted nine urgent requests for the Court to issue a ruling. The outcome of the long-awaited decision could be announced at any moment, amid the internal election season and public attention focused on the World Cup.
The former legislator considers that her case would no longer have practical restorative effects, given that more than two years have passed since her removal from office and only a few months remain until the end of the term for which she was elected until 2028. Even so, she remains firmly determined to appeal to international bodies, citing concerns about the vulnerability of legal certainty in Paraguay and recalling convictions the country has already received from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights over arbitrary removals.
The president of Congress, Basilio Bachi Núñez, the main driver behind González's expulsion, had suggested he would block the former senator's return if the Court ruled in her favor, but later walked back the statement.