diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/utils/github.rb b/Library/Homebrew/utils/github.rb
index 244bb397f2..2a6a67e913 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/utils/github.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/utils/github.rb
@@ -480,7 +480,7 @@ module GitHub
     res = GitHub.open_api("#{GitHub::API_URL}/repos/#{user}/#{repo}/license")
     return unless res.key?("license")
 
-    res["license"]["spdx_id"] || nil
+    res["license"]["spdx_id"]
   rescue GitHub::HTTPNotFoundError
     nil
   end