diff --git a/server/opts.go b/server/opts.go
index 8b97fa45..ede0a134 100644
--- a/server/opts.go
+++ b/server/opts.go
@@ -625,7 +625,7 @@ func GenTLSConfig(tc *TLSConfigOpts) (*tls.Config, error) {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 		pool := x509.NewCertPool()
-		ok := pool.AppendCertsFromPEM([]byte(rootPEM))
+		ok := pool.AppendCertsFromPEM(rootPEM)
 		if !ok {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse root ca certificate")
 		}
diff --git a/server/sublist.go b/server/sublist.go
index 6dae92ca..b8e671b5 100644
--- a/server/sublist.go
+++ b/server/sublist.go
@@ -571,7 +571,7 @@ func IsValidSubject(subject string) bool {
 		return false
 	}
 	sfwc := false
-	tokens := strings.Split(string(subject), tsep)
+	tokens := strings.Split(subject, tsep)
 	for _, t := range tokens {
 		if len(t) == 0 || sfwc {
 			return false
@@ -589,7 +589,7 @@ func IsValidSubject(subject string) bool {
 
 // IsValidLiteralSubject returns true if a subject is valid and literal (no wildcards), false otherwise
 func IsValidLiteralSubject(subject string) bool {
-	tokens := strings.Split(string(subject), tsep)
+	tokens := strings.Split(subject, tsep)
 	for _, t := range tokens {
 		if len(t) == 0 {
 			return false