Supreme Court rejects Kattya González's challenge to Senate expulsion

Paraguay's Supreme Court has denied former senator Kattya González's challenge to her expulsion from the Senate. The court's majority decision, with six votes against and three in favor, dismissed her action of unconstitutionality. This ruling comes nearly two and a half years after González, a member of the National Encounter Party, lost her legislative investiture on February 14, 2024.

The legal challenge was filed by González on February 27, 2024, seeking to overturn Resolution No. 431/2024 from the Senate. That resolution, passed with the votes of 23 ruling party legislators and their allies, declared her loss of investiture. The Senate session saw 7 abstentions and 15 absences.

The majority of the expanded Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, comprising seven ministers and two appellate judges, voted against González's plea. Ministers Alberto Martínez Simón, Luis María Benítez Riera, María Carolina Llanes, and César Diesel Junghanns, along with appellate judges Miguel Ángel Rodas Ruiz Díaz and Esteban Armando Kriskovich De Vargas, sided with the expulsion.

Conversely, ministers Víctor Ríos Ojeda, Gustavo Santander Dans, and Manuel Ramírez Candia voted to uphold González's action, arguing for the unconstitutionality of her removal. These dissenting ministers were reportedly not present at a private meeting with President Santiago Peña and ANR president Horacio Cartes in December 2025.