Thomas M. Messner researches religious liberty, right of conscience, nondiscrimination laws and the definition of marriage, among other issues, as a Visiting Fellow in the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation.

Messner earned his law degree from Notre Dame Law School and his bachelor of arts degree from Grove City College in Pennsylvania. After law school, Messner clerked for Judge William H. Pryor Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and then practiced law in Washington, D.C.