“Nope, they can actually reduce the number of members of the supreme court before then.”
That’s correct, read this:
http://www.livescience.com/9857-9-supreme-court-justices.html
As I read it The Congress could reduce the number of justices immediately with the reductions to take place as current members left or died. So the Republicans could reduce the court to eight members ( or less) and Obola would not be able to nominate anyone who would by their approval cause the court to exceed the legally set number under the new Act of Congress changing the number.