The Republicans are hammering Joe Biden hard on his refusal to state whether he will increase the number of Justices on the Supreme Court. The Constitution says nothing about how many Justices should be on the Court, and the number has been as few as 6 and as many as 10 in the past. However, the number of Justices has stood at 9 since 1869. Democrats have threatened to increase that number should Biden become President and they take the Senate in order to compensate for the GOP's bad faith refusal to even give Merrick Garland a hearing when Obama nominated him more than 8 months before the 2016 election while rushing to confirm Amy Coney Barrett's nomination even though it was made less than 2 months before the current election. Biden's refusal to say whether he will, in the GOP's phrasing, "pack the court", is likely to cost him a fair number of votes. At least, that's what the Republicans are counting on.
Reframing The Debate
I suggest we reframe the debate and make an offer that will force the Republicans to play defense on this issue. First, let's remind the Republicans that they ruthlessly blocked over a hundred judicial nominations during the last TWO YEARS of the Obama Administration, leaving the seats open to be filled by a future Republican President. Watch Mitch McConnell laugh at how he threw a monkey wrench into the judicial nomination process. It is a laugh worthy of a James Bond villain.