So opinion now seems to be this. (Biden just has to win first though...)
If McConnell pushes through a nominee, President Biden should pack the court.
Republicans have put party over principle. Biden can do something about it.
www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/09/19/mcconnell-biden-pack-court/
... Democrats have only one play here: If Trump and McConnell jam an appointee through, it is not enough for Democrats to raise hell about the hypocrisy, the duplicity and the Republican refusal to play by McConnell’s own rules. It is not enough to target every Republican senator who goes along. It is not enough to have voters bombard their Republican senator’s office with phone calls and protests. Because those things have been happening for four years, and none of them have persuaded the GOP to put the stability of the country or the obligations of office ahead of that party’s thirst for power.
So Democrats should threaten to pack the court. And, if McConnell pushes through a new justice and then Joe Biden wins, they should follow through.
...Democrats need to realize that they’re up against a mendacious bully who is never going to follow even the rules he sets out. “Court-packing” is a loaded term, and if they’re smart, Democrats will find a more palatable one. But it’s a defensible and evenhanded move to assert that, if McConnell steals another Supreme Court seat (just weeks before a national election), then Democrats will consider a presidential victory a mandate from voters to expand the number of seats on the Supreme Court.
This is not unprecedented. The number of justices has not been static at nine; it’s changed six times, from as few as six to as many as ten. All it takes is for Congress to pass an act, and for the president to sign it. If a Biden victory comes with a Democratic congressional majority, expanding the number of Supreme Court justices isn’t all that hard to do.
Adding justices is not an action Democrats should take lightly. It runs a high risk of alienating some voters who would see such a move, constitutionally mandated though it may be, as taking advantage. And the escalation would certainly ratchet up the already boiling conflicts between Democrats and Republicans in Congress. But McConnell forces the left’s hand. Thanks to him and his ally in the White House, the United States looks less like a functional democracy by the day. This latest maneuver is more than political gamesmanship; it’s a massive blow to the stability of the republic.
With an election looming, Democrats can give voters a say. If they vow to expand the court, then Americans can cast their ballots with that in mind. Key to the message should be that McConnell and Senate Republicans have so repeatedly broken the rules, rigged the game and stolen victories that it’s become impossible to play on neutral turf. As Murkowski put it, fair is fair.
It’s a shame we’re here. But to restore a democracy that has been battered, bruised and robbed blind by the president and his party, Democrats will need to fight harder. If Republicans steal this seat, the only reasonable response is to change the number of judges on the bench.