HTTP Status for "already logged in"

Question

Say a REST client is logged in and attempts to login again, in which case the server ignores the request. What status should be returned here?

Answer 1

I think your API could get away with returning the exact same status code / message as it would if it were a successful first login.

Here's why... The way I see it, you have two different scenarios from the perspective of the API: new login and re-login. programmatically there is a difference.

But, from the perspective of the API consumer, all the consumer wants to know is if login was successful, which it was.