[BlackRazor]

Can an outsider be appointed Chief Justice....does it have to be a sitting Justice who gets that post?

Historically, when a new Chief Justice is named, he has usually been an outsider. Of the 16 Chief Justices in the Supreme Court's history, only 3 of them were elevated from among the sitting Supreme Court justices - so Rehnquist being elevated as he was, was a relative rarity. The prior three Chief Justices before Rehnquist were all outsiders.

[George W. Bush]

The prior three Chief Justices before Rehnquist were all outsiders.

Good historical points. But all these precedents do get broken sooner or later.

The prez has said many times that Scalia is his ideal of a supreme court justice. I think that's a pretty heavy indication.