diff --git a/clint.py b/clint.py
index 7196188099..e1c43a8b24 100755
--- a/clint.py
+++ b/clint.py
@@ -2898,61 +2898,6 @@ def CheckSpacing(filename, clean_lines, linenum, nesting_state, error):
           'Missing space around colon in range-based for loop')
 
 
-def CheckSectionSpacing(filename, clean_lines, class_info, linenum, error):
-  """Checks for additional blank line issues related to sections.
-
-  Currently the only thing checked here is blank line before protected/private.
-
-  Args:
-    filename: The name of the current file.
-    clean_lines: A CleansedLines instance containing the file.
-    class_info: A _ClassInfo objects.
-    linenum: The number of the line to check.
-    error: The function to call with any errors found.
-  """
-  # Skip checks if the class is small, where small means 25 lines or less.
-  # 25 lines seems like a good cutoff since that's the usual height of
-  # terminals, and any class that can't fit in one screen can't really
-  # be considered "small".
-  #
-  # Also skip checks if we are on the first line.  This accounts for
-  # classes that look like
-  #   class Foo { public: ... };
-  #
-  # If we didn't find the end of the class, last_line would be zero,
-  # and the check will be skipped by the first condition.
-  if (class_info.last_line - class_info.starting_linenum <= 24 or
-      linenum <= class_info.starting_linenum):
-    return
-
-  matched = Match(r'\s*(public|protected|private):', clean_lines.lines[linenum])
-  if matched:
-    # Issue warning if the line before public/protected/private was
-    # not a blank line, but don't do this if the previous line contains
-    # "class" or "struct".  This can happen two ways:
-    #  - We are at the beginning of the class.
-    #  - We are forward-declaring an inner class that is semantically
-    #    private, but needed to be public for implementation reasons.
-    # Also ignores cases where the previous line ends with a backslash as can be
-    # common when defining classes in C macros.
-    prev_line = clean_lines.lines[linenum - 1]
-    if (not IsBlankLine(prev_line) and
-        not Search(r'\b(class|struct)\b', prev_line) and
-        not Search(r'\\$', prev_line)):
-      # Try a bit harder to find the beginning of the class.  This is to
-      # account for multi-line base-specifier lists, e.g.:
-      #   class Derived
-      #       : public Base {
-      end_class_head = class_info.starting_linenum
-      for i in range(class_info.starting_linenum, linenum):
-        if Search(r'\{\s*$', clean_lines.lines[i]):
-          end_class_head = i
-          break
-      if end_class_head < linenum - 1:
-        error(filename, linenum, 'whitespace/blank_line', 3,
-              '"%s:" should be preceded by a blank line' % matched.group(1))
-
-
 def GetPreviousNonBlankLine(clean_lines, linenum):
   """Return the most recent non-blank line and its line number.