Rifqa Bary Attorney Cleared of Grievance

The Florida Bar has dismissed a grievance against Orlando lawyer John Stemberger, who represented religious runaway Rifqa Bary.

The Bar had alleged that Stemberger disclosed confidential matters about Bary and accused an attorney representing her parents, Omar Tarazi, of being associated with terrorists.

He was also accused of saying or implying he was representing Bary in Fox News interviews about Bary's family-court case in Ohio. Stemberger was not Bary's attorney in that case.

The grievance, dismissed Thursday, stemmed from a complaint Tarazi filed with the Bar, in which he said that Stemberger's terrorism claims "were based solely on a Facebook article" and a blog post.

Stemberger contended that his statements were protected by the First Amendment and that the Florida Supreme Court is the wrong place to address his alleged misconduct.

In a statement announcing the dismissal, Stemberger criticized bar and other organizations for "bending over backwards to accommodate members of Islam as a new protected class."

"Instead of championing constitutional free speech rights, bar organizations are opting for enforcing political correctness," said Stemberger, a who described himself as a "conservative Christian advocate."