Kevin J. “Seamus” Hasson, a non-profit lawyer who focuses on religious cases, addressed members of the Federalist Society and the Christian Legal Society on Tuesday afternoon on a topic students sometimes take for granted — religious freedom.

Hasson said the U.S. Constitution did not invent religious freedom. It is a basic human right that dates back to beginning of man’s existence, he said.

Hearing that message made many students take a deeper look at where religious freedom really comes from.

“It’s easy to think that our religious freedom comes from the First Amendment,” said Tarek Shahla, a first year law student and member of the Federalist Society. “But it comes from someplace deeper, from our inherent rights as people.”

Hasson said humans are constantly searching for more truth.

“[We have] the right to follow our consciences and to express freely the right to seek, the right to embrace and the right to express our religion,” Hasson said. “It is not because of law or culture or because God told us, it is because of the dignity of the human person.”

William Kaufman, a third year law student and president of the Federalist Society, said Hasson was interesting because he was “able to take the emotion out of religion.”

“He is able to diffuse some of the hot button issues like abortion and gay rights and show the legal side of it,” Kaufman said.

Kaufman also mentioned that Hasson presented a systematic analysis of the Ten Commandments case that is before the U.S. Supreme Court this year. It is one of many cases that Hasson has been involved in. Hasson’s law firm — not including the Ten Commandments case, which is still pending — has a record of 53-0 wins on its cases.

Other law students enjoyed his speech, but left with more questions than they came with.

“It was really neat to think of [religious freedom] like that,” said Jennifer Gaubert, a second year law student and vice president of her junior class. “He knew a lot on the subject, but towards the end, it became really gray. The question running through my mind was how, in this morally pluralistic society, do you determine what’s right and wrong [within religion]. It just doesn’t seem answered.”

Gaubert said, “[I] left with questions in my head — which could be a good thing.”

Hasson, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, worked for Williams & Connolly law firm in Washington D.C. until about 11 years ago when he decided to start his own non-profit law firm — The Becket Fund.

“You know that cliff scene in ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?’ That’s what it was like,” Hasson said of his jump into the non-profit realm. “I was working at Williams & Connolly, and I was spending about one-third of my time on religious cases and two-thirds on product liability cases. I came to wonder how much we really needed another product liability lawyer.”

Hasson’s transition to the non-profit sector has brought him from his hometown of Washington D.C. to speak in public forums across the nation.