Historically, the majority of Chief Justices have been appointed from outside instead of promoted from the Associate Justice ranks, so Roberts' appointment as Chief is nothing new.

As for this new appointee, I don't know what the precedents are for appointing someone to the Supreme Court as their first judgeship, but I don't like the idea. It's sorta like pulling a good line foreman out of a plant and making him a company vice president without first making him a manager to see if he really has managerial potential.