diff --git a/src/share/vm/gc_implementation/g1/g1CollectedHeap.cpp b/src/share/vm/gc_implementation/g1/g1CollectedHeap.cpp
index 3f18304dbc475faf038264e0394953d8c8bb2299..561aba5ebd7af45594aaa5c2d1b49cfbc9de1376 100644
--- a/src/share/vm/gc_implementation/g1/g1CollectedHeap.cpp
+++ b/src/share/vm/gc_implementation/g1/g1CollectedHeap.cpp
@@ -5358,9 +5358,10 @@ public:
   void do_oop(narrowOop* p) { guarantee(false, "Not needed"); }
   void do_oop(oop* p) {
     oop obj = *p;
+    assert(obj != NULL, "the caller should have filtered out NULL values");
 
     G1CollectedHeap::in_cset_state_t cset_state = _g1->in_cset_state(obj);
-    if (obj == NULL || cset_state == G1CollectedHeap::InNeither) {
+    if (cset_state == G1CollectedHeap::InNeither) {
       return;
     }
     if (cset_state == G1CollectedHeap::InCSet) {