diff --git a/awscli/botocore/handlers.py b/awscli/botocore/handlers.py
index 2274da56ddcf..8ba860957312 100644
--- a/awscli/botocore/handlers.py
+++ b/awscli/botocore/handlers.py
@@ -114,37 +114,6 @@ def escape_xml_payload(params, **kwargs):
     params['body'] = body
 
 
-def check_for_200_error(response, **kwargs):
-    """This function has been deprecated, but is kept for backwards compatibility."""
-    # From: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/API/RESTObjectCOPY.html
-    # There are two opportunities for a copy request to return an error. One
-    # can occur when Amazon S3 receives the copy request and the other can
-    # occur while Amazon S3 is copying the files. If the error occurs before
-    # the copy operation starts, you receive a standard Amazon S3 error. If the
-    # error occurs during the copy operation, the error response is embedded in
-    # the 200 OK response. This means that a 200 OK response can contain either
-    # a success or an error. Make sure to design your application to parse the
-    # contents of the response and handle it appropriately.
-    #
-    # So this handler checks for this case.  Even though the server sends a
-    # 200 response, conceptually this should be handled exactly like a
-    # 500 response (with respect to raising exceptions, retries, etc.)
-    # We're connected *before* all the other retry logic handlers, so as long
-    # as we switch the error code to 500, we'll retry the error as expected.
-    if response is None:
-        # A None response can happen if an exception is raised while
-        # trying to retrieve the response.  See Endpoint._get_response().
-        return
-    http_response, parsed = response
-    if _looks_like_special_case_error(
-            http_response.status_code, http_response.content
-    ):
-        logger.debug("Error found for response with 200 status code, "
-                     "errors: %s, changing status code to "
-                     "500.", parsed)
-        http_response.status_code = 500
-
-
 def _looks_like_special_case_error(status_code, body):
     if status_code == 200 and body:
         try: