For those of you wise in the workins of the government...?

In a word yes.

Having been a member of the SCOTUS does not preclude an individual from any other position.

A Justice of the Supreme Court isn't likely to resign. Some positions in government aren't filled and sometimes a government official needs to do two jobs with the pay of one job. This is an unfair practice. The workload should be shared until a replacement with the right credentials is found.

To address your question directly, it is legal for a Supreme Court Justice to resign his position and accept another position. The only "question of law" is who would be responsible to replace the Supreme Court Justice?

Normally, local courts and jurisdictions elect their lower court justices through elections. The Supreme Court Justices of the past twelve years and throughout Americas history have been appointed by the President of the United States.

I believe Obama, who has a law degree, is aware of the problem that has been exploited in previous Administrations.

It seems to me that a "conflict of interests" exists when lower court justices are elected every six years while Supreme Court Justices are "appointed" by the "sitting" president.

The heirarchy of government is flawed whenever there are "apparent" inconsistencies within the system of government.

Power to Obama, the American People, and may justice prevail!

Why would they want to step down into a lower position like that though? It doesn't make any sense.

I'm not sure but you can find out on google search engine, hope this helped.