BeforeClass assumption failures handled differently than in other scopes

[jnersasi]

I am using a subclass of RunListener to listen and respond to JUnit events. I'm having an issue handling assumptionFailures in @BeforeClass annotated methods...

In other scopes (@test or @before methods) assumptionFailures seem to correctly call EachTestNotifier's addFailedAssumption() and in time fireTestAssumptionFailed methods as I would expect. This is from the ParentRunner class:

protected final void runLeaf(Statement statement, Description description,
        RunNotifier notifier) {
    EachTestNotifier eachNotifier = new EachTestNotifier(notifier, description);
    eachNotifier.fireTestStarted();
    try {
        statement.evaluate();
    } catch (AssumptionViolatedException e) {
        eachNotifier.addFailedAssumption(e);
    } catch (Throwable e) {
        eachNotifier.addFailure(e);
    } finally {
        eachNotifier.fireTestFinished();
    }
} 

When an AssumptionViolatedException is caught, listeners are notified of this.

However, when an assumption failure is raised in a @BeforeClass annotated method instead we get a call to fireTestIgnored as can be seen here:

public void run(final RunNotifier notifier) {
    EachTestNotifier testNotifier = new EachTestNotifier(notifier,
            getDescription());
    try {
        Statement statement = classBlock(notifier);
        statement.evaluate();
    } catch (AssumptionViolatedException e) {
        testNotifier.fireTestIgnored();
    } catch (StoppedByUserException e) {
        throw e;
    } catch (Throwable e) {
        testNotifier.addFailure(e);
    }
}

Now an assumption failure looks the same as an ignored test although there is no corresponding @ignore attribute to glean any information from.

Why is an assumption failure being turned into an ignored test only in this case? Is there a reason it can't be treated as a normal assumptionFailure? Since there is still logic being used to determine the validity of the assumption, this isn't the same as a straight up @ignored test.