Why isn’t a qualified static final variable allowed in a static initialization block?

The JLS holds the answer (note the bold statement):

Similarly, every blank final variable must be assigned at most once; it must be definitely unassigned when an assignment to it occurs. Such an assignment is defined to occur if and only if either the simple name of the variable (or, for a field, its simple name qualified by this) occurs on the left hand side of an assignment operator. [ยง16]

This means that the ‘simple name’ must be used when assigning static final variables – i.e. the var name without any qualifiers.

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