I told Politico the same thing, but Carl M. Cannon gets first publication credit for suggesting this:

"Specifically, I wonder whether the ease with which HRC caused King & Spalding to capitulate might cause Tony Kennedy to reach an obvious, real-world conclusion: namely, that gays and lesbians are far from powerless, and are doing just fine without any "heightened" protections. If it comes down to that, the campaign against Paul Clement would have backfired -- and produced its own rough justice."

I note, however that HRC shows no signs of backing down from its tactics, which Cannon called "bullying."