July 2, 2025, Washington, D.C. – The Religious Freedom Institute (RFI) is delighted to announce Andrea Picciotti-Bayer as the recipient of our 2025 Religious Freedom Impact Award. A devoted Catholic mother, Picciotti-Bayer is a nationally recognized attorney, policy expert, and commentator, whose distinguished career has advanced the cause of religious liberty in America.

The Religious Freedom Impact Award is presented annually at the RFI Annual Dinner to a leader whose life and work have demonstrated “consistent, effective, and innovative leadership in advancing religious freedom” in law, policy, or culture. Honorees exhibit a deep and sustained commitment to defending the rights of all people to live out their faith freely and peacefully in public and private life. 

Picciotti-Bayer began her legal career as a trial and appellate attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. She later served as the legal advisor to The Catholic Association and a strategic consultant for the Institute for Human Ecology at The Catholic University of America, where she authored amicus briefs in significant religious freedom and free speech cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and federal appellate courts.

In her current role as Director of the Conscience Project, Picciotti-Bayer collaborates with a network of public intellectuals and legal scholars dedicated to protecting conscience rights and religious freedom by presenting creative and compelling public arguments and filing amicus briefs in key religious freedom cases in the courts of appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court. She regularly appears as a legal analyst for EWTN News, is a weekly guest on Ave Maria in the Afternoon and writes as a columnist for the National Catholic Register. Picciotti-Bayer has also been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, National Review, Fox News, Newsweek, and CNN en Español. She was a recipient of the 2025 Catholic Media Association Award for Best Coverage — Religious Liberty Issues.

Throughout her career, Picciotti-Bayer has defended religious individuals and institutions facing unjust government interference in the exercise of their faith, particularly in matters of healthcare, education, and parental rights.

“Andrea Picciotti-Bayer is a tenacious advocate for religious Americans threatened by government intrusion into their public and private lives,” said David Trimble, President of the Religious Freedom Institute. “Andrea’s voice brings clarity to the confusion that so often surrounds some of the most charged religious freedom conflicts in American law and culture today.”

Picciotti-Bayer will be honored at the RFI Annual Dinner on Thursday, November 6, 2025, in Washington, D.C. The evening will include the formal presentation of the award, remarks by the honoree, and the attendance of distinguished leaders from across the fields of government, law, academia, and religious communities.

To learn more about RFI’s 2025 Annual Dinner, visit our event page.

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The Religious Freedom Institute (RFI) works to secure religious freedom for everyone, everywhere. RFI is a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Washington, D.C.

Media Contact: Nathan Berkeley
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