Seeking thoughts on a "professional judiciary" for sentencing law

Over at Concurring Opinions, Gerard Magliocca has this post, titled "A Professional Judiciary?", which note and criticizes the early pattern of President Obama to elevate lower court judges in his nomination choices. Here it is in full:

Yesterday I was struck by an interesting fact. Thus far, all but one of President Obama’s Circuit Court nominees are sitting District Court judges. Justice Sotomayor, of course, was promoted by President from the Second Circuit after serving on the District Court in New York.

I think this is a bad trend. One of the strengths of our judiciary, in contrast to the European civil service tradition, is that we draw on people with a wide variety of backgrounds (private attorneys, elected officials, prosecutors, and . . . yes, professors).  Narrowing the pool to sitting judges harms the quality of the bench and creates undue pressure on District judges to act in a politically safe way in the hope of getting promoted.  There’s nothing wrong, of course, with the occasional District Judge elevation. But can the White House really find nobody else who is qualified?

Regular readers know I am a big fan of judicial diversity, so I am also troubled by the early pattern -- though I also expect it to change over time because I think it mostly represents Obama's political desire for "safe" picks rather than a judgment that others are not qualified or needed for circuit courts.  That said, I do think federal circuit sentencing law might be improved by having more circuit judges who have experienced sentencing first-hand.

Reflecting more broadly on these issues, I was thinking about the potential value of a "professional judiciary" that was much more diverse and dynamic in its judicial history than what we are seeing in President Obama's early picks.  Specifically, what might Gerard and others think if Obama (or some other president) made a practice of regularly nominating sitting state lower court judges (including juve judges and other specialty court judges) on the federal bench?  (More than a few nominated district and circuit judges cross-over this way, but I think it is more often the exception than the rule.)

Gerard's post has generated a lot of thoughtful comments over at CO, and I hope readers of this blog might also get into the act (and, of course, give the discussion a special sentencing spin, as appropriate).