They were getting sued.....
....by various organizations such as MIT, UC, Havard and so on so I expect there was also a bit of backchannel discussion going on.
The Trump administration is now effectively isolated from the life of the country. A 'normal' administration has a slate of experts it can call on to not just help formulate policy but also identify whether a proposed policy would pass a legal challenge. This administration has burned through its expertise so its effectively rudderless leaving it thrashing around making meaningless policies with the entire effort being directed towards re-electing the President. Trump and his administration will continue to bully and bluster -- Barr is point man here, eliminating legal challenges by eliminating those legal types that are likely to create challenges -- but as we get nearer to the election I expect these efforts to wane as everyone heads for the lifeboats.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
