May 19, 2025, Washington, D.C. – The Religious Freedom Institute (RFI) is pleased to announce that its Director of Islam and Religious Freedom, Ismail Royer, has been appointed to the White House’s Religious Liberty Commission as an advisory board member. 

The commission was created earlier this month by President Donald Trump, with a mandate to “vigorously enforce the historic and robust protections for religious liberty enshrined in Federal law.” A White House fact sheet states that “the Commission will investigate and recommend policies to restore and safeguard religious liberty for all Americans.” 

The Executive Order creating the commission states that it will issue a “comprehensive report” about threats to religious liberty and strategies to “increase awareness of and celebrate America’s peaceful religious pluralism.” The report will address parental rights in education, conscience protections in healthcare, free speech for religious bodies, institutional religious freedom, and attacks on houses of worship.

President Trump named Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as chair and Dr. Ben Carson as vice chair. The President has also appointed members of three advisory boards to the commission consisting of religious leaders, legal experts, and lay leaders. 

Royer, who was appointed last Friday to the Commission’s Advisory Board of Lay Leaders, said:

I am honored to be appointed to this position by President Trump, and I am grateful for this opportunity to serve my country. The American constitutional order was grounded by the Founders in timeless, self-evident truths. The mandate of the Religious Liberty Commission is to reinvigorate our understanding of those truths and to protect the liberties that flow from them. I look forward to dedicating myself to the success of this noble mission.

A member of RFI’s staff since 2018, Royer is an authoritative and respected Muslim voice for religious freedom for everyone, everywhere. His work has been published in many outlets, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Newsday, First Things, and American Conservative.

Royer is the co-editor of a forthcoming book on virtue ethics in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, based on an initiative he conceived and helped lead that convened over thirty Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scholars. He has also authored a monograph examining Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and its disparate impact on Christians and other religious minorities, and calling for its repeal.

Royer’s current focus is defending the rights of parents of all faiths to raise their children according to the dictates of their conscience. Since 2023, he has been closely involved in defending the right of parents of public school students in Montgomery County, Maryland to opt their children out of mandatory instruction in gender ideology. He has also helped parents involved in similar struggles in Ohio and Minnesota, and has testified three times before the Maryland General Assembly in favor of parental rights legislation.

Royer also leads RFI’s amicus briefs initiative. Since 2018, under his direction, RFI has filed or joined more than 80 influential amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts on behalf of individuals and institutions of diverse faiths. Two of those briefs have been cited by Supreme Court justices in their opinions and oral arguments. 

“RFI is proud of Ismail’s wide-ranging work with RFI in defense of religious freedom and in service of the common good,” said Tom Farr, RFI’s co-founder and President Emeritus. “His appointment as an advisory board member of the White House’s Religious Liberty Commission is well-deserved.”

“We are honored to have Ismail represent RFI as an advisory board member on this critical White House commission and know that he will make invaluable contributions to its efforts in defense of America’s first freedom,” said RFI President David Trimble.

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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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