From Second-Best to First-Best Veto Point: Explaining the Changing Uses of Judicial Review and Referendums in Uruguay Florencia Antía Daniela Vairo ABSTRACT The use of veto points to block policy change has received significant attention in Latin America, but the different institutional venues have not been analyzed in a unified framework. Uruguay is exceptional in that political actors use both referendums and judicial review as effective ways to oppose public policies. While the activation of direct democracy mechanisms in Uruguay has been widely studied, the surge in the use of the judicial venue remains underexplored. This article argues that veto point use responds to the ideological content of policies adopted by different coalitions and the type of interest organization affected. It shows that policy opponents predominantly activate referendums when center- right coalitions rule and judicial review when center-left coalitions govern. It illustrates the causal argument by tracing the politics of court and referendum activation. This approach helps to bridge the gap between research on direct democracy and judicial politics, providing a unified framework. Keywords: veto points, court, referendum, democracy, Uruguay V eto points, defined as institutional venues that offer opportunities to block policy change (Immergut 2010), have received significant attention in Latin American democracies. Several studies have described the activation of high courts to challenge public policies (Taylor 2008; Kapiszewski 2012). Others have explored the use of direct democracy mechanisms by organized interests to oppose public policies that affected them (Altman 2011; Zovatto 2006). However, the joint analysis of these phenomena and their determinants has received less attention, probably because the use of both institutional venues has been rare in the regional context. Florencia Antía is an associate professor of political science. florencia.antia@cienciassociales. edu.uy . ORCID 0000-0001-5421-8476. Daniela Vairo is an associate professor of political science. daniela.vairo@cienciassociales.edu.uy . ORCID 0000-0003-4426-6460. Both in the Departamento de Ciencia Política, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay. Conflicts of interest: Florencia Antía and Daniela Vairo declare none. © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the University of Miami. DOI 10.1017/lap.2022.50 https://doi.org/10.1017/lap.2022.50 Published online by Cambridge University Press