diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/SelectVariants.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/SelectVariants.java
index ae798cf58..428c896e9 100755
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/SelectVariants.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/SelectVariants.java
@@ -341,7 +341,6 @@ public class SelectVariants extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> {
         // first, add any requested samples
         samples.addAll(samplesFromFile);
         samples.addAll(samplesFromExpressions);
-        if (sampleNames != null)
         samples.addAll(sampleNames);
 
         // if none were requested, we want all of them