diff --git a/lucene/CHANGES.txt b/lucene/CHANGES.txt
index b03e7fda4858..0fd72dff192e 100644
--- a/lucene/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/lucene/CHANGES.txt
@@ -496,6 +496,8 @@ Other
 
 * GITHUB#16090: Make CollectorMemoryTracker instance members final. (Luca Cavanna)
 
+* GITHUB#16073: Simplify SortedDocIDMerger.next(). (Tim Brooks)
+
 ======================= Lucene 10.4.0 =======================
 
 API Changes
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/DocIDMerger.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/DocIDMerger.java
index bf01fcdd497c..463dfee7ff91 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/DocIDMerger.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/DocIDMerger.java
@@ -197,7 +197,9 @@ public T next() throws IOException {
         } else {
           current = queue.pop();
         }
-      } else if (queue.size() > 0) {
+      } else {
+        // queue cannot be empty here: if it were, queueMinDocID == NO_MORE_DOCS, and any valid
+        // nextDoc would satisfy nextDoc < queueMinDocID, taking the fast path above
         assert queueMinDocID == queue.top().mappedDocID;
         assert nextDoc > queueMinDocID;
         T newCurrent = queue.top();