diff --git a/Modules/_ssl.c b/Modules/_ssl.c
index bf379f01a1d2bf..2bce4816d26fe7 100644
--- a/Modules/_ssl.c
+++ b/Modules/_ssl.c
@@ -901,7 +901,6 @@ newPySSLSocket(PySSLContext *sslctx, PySocketSockObject *sock,
 #endif
 
     /* Make sure the SSL error state is initialized */
-    (void) ERR_get_state();
     ERR_clear_error();
 
     PySSL_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS