diff --git a/ez_setup.py b/ez_setup.py
index b02f3f17b0..de90a8e805 100644
--- a/ez_setup.py
+++ b/ez_setup.py
@@ -124,32 +124,6 @@
                    to_dir=os.curdir, download_delay=15):
     # making sure we use the absolute path
     to_dir = os.path.abspath(to_dir)
-    was_imported = 'pkg_resources' in sys.modules or \
-        'setuptools' in sys.modules
-    try:
-        import pkg_resources
-    except ImportError:
-        return _do_download(version, download_base, to_dir, download_delay)
-    try:
-        pkg_resources.require("setuptools>=" + version)
-        return
-    except pkg_resources.VersionConflict:
-        e = sys.exc_info()[1]
-        if was_imported:
-            sys.stderr.write(
-            "The required version of setuptools (>=%s) is not available,\n"
-            "and can't be installed while this script is running. Please\n"
-            "install a more recent version first, using\n"
-            "'easy_install -U setuptools'."
-            "\n\n(Currently using %r)\n" % (version, e.args[0]))
-            sys.exit(2)
-        else:
-            del pkg_resources, sys.modules['pkg_resources']    # reload ok
-            return _do_download(version, download_base, to_dir,
-                                download_delay)
-    except pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound:
-        return _do_download(version, download_base, to_dir,
-                            download_delay)
 
 def download_file_powershell(url, target):
     """