diff --git a/sched/sched/sched_idletask.c b/sched/sched/sched_idletask.c
index dacaa19ff2a..1c428c69025 100644
--- a/sched/sched/sched_idletask.c
+++ b/sched/sched/sched_idletask.c
@@ -60,28 +60,18 @@ bool sched_idletask(void)
 {
   FAR struct tcb_s *rtcb = this_task();
 
-  /* If called early in the initialization sequence, the tasks lists may not
-   * have been initialized and, in that case, rtcb may be NULL.
+  DEBUGASSERT(rtcb);
+
+  /* The IDLE task TCB is distinguishable by a few things:
+   *
+   * (1) It always lies at the end of the task list,
+   * (2) It always has priority zero, and
+   * (3) It should have the TCB_FLAG_CPU_LOCKED flag set.
+   *
+   * In the non-SMP case, the IDLE task will also have PID=0, but that
+   * is not a portable test because there are multiple IDLE tasks with
+   * different PIDs in the SMP configuration.
    */
 
-  DEBUGASSERT(rtcb != NULL || !OSINIT_TASK_READY());
-  if (rtcb != NULL)
-    {
-      /* The IDLE task TCB is distinguishable by a few things:
-       *
-       * (1) It always lies at the end of the task list,
-       * (2) It always has priority zero, and
-       * (3) It should have the TCB_FLAG_CPU_LOCKED flag set.
-       *
-       * In the non-SMP case, the IDLE task will also have PID=0, but that
-       * is not a portable test because there are multiple IDLE tasks with
-       * different PIDs in the SMP configuration.
-       */
-
-      return is_idle_task(rtcb);
-    }
-
-  /* We must be on the IDLE thread if we are early in initialization */
-
-  return true;
+  return is_idle_task(rtcb);
 }