diff --git a/lib/spack/external/jsonschema/validators.py b/lib/spack/external/jsonschema/validators.py
index 3e326844f4c..30c35153980 100644
--- a/lib/spack/external/jsonschema/validators.py
+++ b/lib/spack/external/jsonschema/validators.py
@@ -4,10 +4,7 @@
 import json
 import numbers
 
-try:
-    import requests
-except ImportError:
-    requests = None
+requests = None
 
 from jsonschema import _utils, _validators
 from jsonschema.compat import (