diff --git a/bindings/python/notmuch/message.py b/bindings/python/notmuch/message.py
index 0cac09c1..bdbe5012 100644
--- a/bindings/python/notmuch/message.py
+++ b/bindings/python/notmuch/message.py
@@ -41,10 +41,6 @@ from .tag import Tags
 from .filenames import Filenames
 
 import email
-try:
-    import simplejson as json
-except ImportError:
-    import json
 
 
 class Message(Python3StringMixIn):