Form validation returning FALSE

$this->CI->input->method() !== 'post' in set_rules() does make sense if you look at the full context of 'public function set_rules' in core/Form_validation.php @ line 167 

PHP Code:

    public function set_rules($field, $label = '', $rules = array(), $errors = array())
    {
        // No reason to set rules if we have no POST data
        // or a validation array has not been specified
        if ($this->CI->input->method() !== 'post' && empty($this->validation_data))
        {
            return $this;
        } 
... 


if $this->CI->input->method() == 'get' it does not equal post.  The other half is true as well so the result is to not set validation rules for CI thinks there is nothing in $_POST.

CI knows nothing about the contents of the $_POST array yet in the conditional above. It only looks to see if

1. The server received a POST request and
   
2. The user has not provided an array of data to be validated instead of $_POST
   

When I said "That does not make sense." it was in reference to the server method.  What does not make sense is that the $_POST superglobal is set, but the server method is GET. The $_POST superglobal should be empty if the method is GET. Yet, it was confirmed that $_POST['email'] is set and not empty.

Something else is at play here.