Sen. Susan Collins Susan Margaret CollinsClub for Growth to spend million in ads for Trump Supreme Court nominee Maryland's GOP governor says Republicans shouldn't rush SCOTUS vote before election The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - GOP closes ranks to fill SCOTUS vacancy by November MORE (R-Maine) said Sunday that she believes a federal judge's ruling striking down the Affordable Care Act was "far too sweeping," and that she expects it to be overturned.

"I think this will be overturned on appeal," Collins said on CNN's "State of the Union."

"There's no reason why the individual mandate provision can't be struck down and keep all the good provisions of the Affordable Care Act," she said of the health-care law that was deeply unpopular with Republicans when it passed in 2009. Collins voted against the bill at the time.

"He could have taken a much more surgical approach and just struck down the individual mandate and kept the rest of the law intact," Collins also said of the judge on ABC's "This Week."

Sen. Susan Collins calls the federal judge's ruling on the Affordable Care Act "far too sweeping."



"He could have taking a far more surgical approach... I believe it will be overturned." https://t.co/MsSEp2VqxW pic.twitter.com/2fDbYZL36A — ABC News (@ABC) December 16, 2018

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The GOP senator was addressing a ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Reed O'Connor, who said Friday that the health-care law's individual mandate is unconstitutional, and that because the mandate cannot be separated from the rest of the law, the rest of the law is also invalid.

Collins added that she does not regret voting for last year's GOP tax-cut bill, which included a provision repealing the individual mandate. That law contributed in part to O'Connor's ruling.

"I think it's important to keep in mind what the impact of the individual mandate was," Collins said on ABC. She argued that it disproportionately hurt middle-class families, and that it was "probably the most unpopular and unfair provision of the Affordable Care Act."

"There are many good provisions of the law," she continued. "Those should be retained."

Legal experts have said they expect O'Connor's ruling to be overturned on appeal. The Affordable Care Act will remain in effect while the case is challenged.