Do you perform any file management operations from Spotlight’s search UI outside of the Finder?

Return has a different function in different apps with different paradigms, but the Finder has the longer lineage with the longest set of principles baked into it, treaded upon somewhat with the Mac OS X transition but at least consistent with the compromises that were made in that transition so when you hit Return in the Finder you get a file management function (renaming) because you’re working within a File Manager. Command-O/Double click has always been the way you opened files.

Utilizing unintuitive patterns due entirely to tradition does not justify the practice. “Enter” both logically and functionally has an intuitive context of “run” or “enter into this object highlighted on screen” within the confines of a file explorer. It is among the largest buttons on the keyboard and its function should be associated with such a presence.

“Rename” is not a rational function bind in any sense — so it is understandable that tradition is the reasoning.

Given how “brave” Apple is to redefine things, like removing a headphone jack or not including chargers, I find it surprising that bravery doesn’t translate to intuitive OS controls contrary to long-held tradition.

What you find is intuitive is only what you learned, and it’s fine to hold that opinion, but it is contrary to what I have learned. For all the criticisms I can and do levy against Apple, not arbitrarily redefining the control scheme that their customers have used for almost 40 years is a mark of respect. Every single keyboard shortcut can be easily redefined to be whatever you want it to be as well, including those of the Finder, through the Keyboard pane in System Preferences. People who find that they can’t get used to hitting Command instead of Control can even just flip the modifier key bindings with ease there on a per Keyboard basis.

Lastly, it’s not “Enter”, that’s actually a separate key binding in some circumstances, but “Return”. Return is a text entry action that typically enters a new line, and by default, begins (and ends) a file rename operation in the Finder; one of the very few functions in which text entry is involved at all in the Finder.