diff --git a/src/main/java/org/json/JSONObject.java b/src/main/java/org/json/JSONObject.java
index c31fcec..a156de3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/json/JSONObject.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/json/JSONObject.java
@@ -2753,13 +2753,13 @@ public class JSONObject {
                 return NULL;
             }
             if (object instanceof JSONObject || object instanceof JSONArray
-                    || NULL.equals(object) || object instanceof JSONString
+                    || object instanceof JSONString || object instanceof String
                     || object instanceof Byte || object instanceof Character
                     || object instanceof Short || object instanceof Integer
                     || object instanceof Long || object instanceof Boolean
                     || object instanceof Float || object instanceof Double
-                    || object instanceof String || object instanceof BigInteger
-                    || object instanceof BigDecimal || object instanceof Enum) {
+                    || object instanceof BigInteger || object instanceof BigDecimal
+                    || object instanceof Enum) {
                 return object;
             }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/json/JSONPointer.java b/src/main/java/org/json/JSONPointer.java
index 9004048..34066c1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/json/JSONPointer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/json/JSONPointer.java
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ public class JSONPointer {
      */
     @Override
     public String toString() {
-        StringBuilder rval = new StringBuilder("");
+        StringBuilder rval = new StringBuilder();
         for (String token: this.refTokens) {
             rval.append('/').append(escape(token));
         }