Much of this week's biggest news involved the aftermath of the repeal of the controversial "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, with President Barack Obama signing a law that will allow […]

Much of this week's biggest news involved the aftermath of the repeal of the controversial "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, with President Barack Obama signing a law that will allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military. In addition, there were a number of off-beat legal stories around the country that generated online buzz.

Late last week, the U.S. Senate passed the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which had been enacted during the Clinton administration and was hoped to be a compromise that would allow gay men and women to serve in the armed forces, according to the Wall Street Journal. However, the rule has drawn fire not only from gay rights activists but from some high-ranking military officials as well, such as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen.

Obama's signing of the repeal has been one of the most popular legal stories of the week with a Google News search for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" showing more than 4,000 news articles.

President Obama signed the law on Wednesday, December 22, and recounted an interaction he had with a female soldier in Afghanistan who told him to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

"I said to her, 'I promise I will,' for we are not a nation that says 'don't ask, don't tell,' we are a nation that says 'out of many, we are one.' We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot. We are a nation that says all men are created equally," he said.

Elsewhere in the legal world, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a lawsuit against big four accounting firm Ernst & Young for helping its client, Lehman Brothers, "engage in a massive accounting fraud," according to the New York Times. The news source reports that the suit is the first legal action relating to Lehman's downfall, which is often heralded as the tipping point in the recent recession. Google Trends reveals that searches for "Ernst & Young" peaked this week on Wednesday, December 22.

Switching gears, actress Lindsay Lohan was in the headlines again, as CBS News reports that she is being investigated for allegedly assaulting a staff member at her rehab facility. A Google News search for "Lindsay Lohan" returns more than 2,000 news stories.

In other drug-related legal news, prosecutors in Montana had trouble seating a jury in a case involving the possession of a few grams of marijuana. The Missoulian reports that many potential jurors made it clear they would not convict for such a paltry amount of pot.

That's the trending online legal news for this holiday week. 

Doug is Brafton's legal editor. He studied journalism in college and has worked for a number of media establishments.