diff --git a/loris/resolver.py b/loris/resolver.py
index 0774a51..d9cb097 100644
--- a/loris/resolver.py
+++ b/loris/resolver.py
@@ -91,8 +91,7 @@ def get_auth_rules(self, ident, source_fp):
         xjsfp = source_fp.rsplit('.', 1)[0] + "." + self.auth_rules_ext
         if exists(xjsfp):
             with open(xjsfp) as fh:
-                xjs = json.load(fh)
-            return xjs
+                return json.load(fh)
         else:
             return {}