You should generally assume that the list UIs will become more dynamic in the future; eg you might be switching in/out that option at any time, which would change which options you're displaying.

Would there be any particular benefit to special-casing the column out when using one particular search filter?

Yes, the benefit is that:

1. That particular case is likely to become the 99.9% use case in the near future (as soon as "My uploads" gets added to the header, which there appears to be consensus for on Commons)
2. The table is a total mess on small to medium size screens, largely because of squished columns. Eliminating unneeded columns would help. (Adding percent width suggestions to the columns would also help.)

Change 134869 had a related patch set uploaded by Brian Wolff:
Do not include user column on Special:MyUploads

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/134869

(In reply to Brion Vibber from comment #1)

You should generally assume that the list UIs will become more dynamic in
the future; eg you might be switching in/out that option at any time, which
would change which options you're displaying.

Yes, but in the mean time it is quite a bit of wasted space where space is at a premium. If in some future we do actually make dynamic special pages, we can undo the special casing then.

p.s. I assumed you meant Special:ListFiles not Special:NewFiles

Change 134869 merged by jenkins-bot:
Do not include user column on Special:MyUploads

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/134869