President Donald Trump has officially removed Carrie Prejean Boller, a Catholic, from the White House Religious Liberty Commission, according to a March 12 message Prejean Boller shared on social media. The decision comes more than a month after a contentious hearing on antisemitism, Zionism, and religious liberty.
As Zeale News previously reported, Prejean Boller drew backlash after arguing at a Feb. 9 hearing that her Catholic faith does not require support for political Zionism and that criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza should not automatically be treated as antisemitic. She cited Catholic scholars, Scripture passages, and Jewish leaders to support her position and pressed witnesses on whether they believed her opposition to Zionism made her “antisemitic.”
The hearing, chaired by Republican Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, focused on riots on American college campuses and how government officials should protect religious liberty. On Feb. 11, Patrick accused Prejean Boller of “hijacking” the hearing and said he was removing her from the commission. Prejean Boller pushed back at the time, arguing Patrick did not have the authority to dismiss a presidential nominee.
In a message posted March 12, White House Presidential Personnel Office staffer Mary Sprowls informed Prejean Boller, on behalf of the President, that her position on the commission was “terminated effective immediately."
🚨President Trump officially removes me from the Religious Liberty Commission for exercising my Religious Liberty.
— Carrie Prejean Boller (@CarriePrejean1) March 12, 2026
The only Catholic woman who opposes Zionism was removed as a prelude to the Iran war.
This is the email I received from the White House informing me that my… pic.twitter.com/Fk2IOgqsEz
Prejean Boller’s response
In a lengthy open letter responding to her removal, Prejean Boller cast the decision as an affront to religious freedom and defended her work on the commission. She said she was “shocked that the removal of the only Catholic woman” on the commission was handled through “a brief email from a staffer rather than a direct conversation with the President who appointed me.”
She argued that her questioning at the February hearing reflected concerns about how accusations of antisemitism could be used to restrict free speech and religious liberty, particularly for those who oppose Zionism on religious grounds.
“Antisemitism cannot be used as a shield to silence speech,” she wrote. “This is a dangerous threat to our First Amendment rights as Americans.”
Prejean Boller also defended her criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, saying her faith compelled her to speak about the suffering of civilians in the Holy Land. She said she had spoken with Palestinians who had lost “everything in their homeland” and said many have suffered starvation, shootings, bombings, and severe injuries.
“I couldn’t stay silent, in the midst of their suffering,” Prejean Boller wrote, later adding, “I am a follower of Christ, and I live my life to do the will of Him.”
She also said she has a “duty to speak for the lives being killed at the hands of the Israeli government, while the United States and my tax dollars are paying for it.”
Prejean Boller further argued that Catholic teaching does not hold that the modern state of Israel fulfills biblical prophecy. Instead, she wrote, the Church teaches that Jesus Christ fulfills the Old Covenant. Through Christ, the People of God — identified as “the Church” in the Catechism — are gathered into the New Covenant, Prejean Boller said.
“If being a Catholic and refusing to adopt a political and theological framework costs me my position, then religious freedom means nothing,” she wrote at one point. “As an American who knows my rights, I dissent. I will never surrender my rights. Ever. It is unacceptable that a Catholic voice defending Church Tradition would be removed from a Religious Liberty Commission.”
The former commissioner also pointed to her advocacy on domestic religious liberty issues during her tenure, including her support for parents and military personnel opposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates. She also said she “spoke at school board meetings defending parental rights for families whose children should never be forced to read material that contradicts their faith.”
Throughout the letter, she framed her removal as inconsistent with the commission’s mission to defend religious liberty and invoked her confirmation saint, Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, as a model of Catholic service to the poor and the marginalized.
“That is the Catholic faith I am proud to stand for today,” she said.
Prejean Boller also accused the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement of abandoning its “America First” principles, arguing that it now appears driven by foreign interests and ideological agendas. She criticized the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and said American troops should not be asked to fight on behalf of another country.
“You were supposed to be the President of peace, not the President of war. George Washington warned against ‘permanent alliances’ with foreign nations, urging the young U.S. to maintain neutrality and avoid becoming involved in wars,” Prejean Boller said. “This is un-american.”
In closing, she said she is praying for “our nation and for you Mr. President.” Quoting Pope Leo XIII, she warned that remaining silent in the face of attacks on truth “is the part of a coward” and “Christ will certainly not recognize such men as His followers.”
“Your eternal legacy is dependent on you entering the Kingdom of heaven, and I sure hope that one day, I will see you there,” Prejean Boller said to Trump. “Christ is King.”