Courthouse For Libby Hearing Evacuated

The courthouse where I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was scheduled to have a decisive pre-trial hearing this morning has been evacuated due to a suspicious package nearby, the U.S. Marshal Service says.

The bomb squad has suited up, reports CBS News producer Deirdre Hester, and a man outfitted in a hazmat suit has approached the area where the package was discovered.

Police tape has been placed around the perimeter of the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, says Hester, and the judges have been taken to a safe, though undisclosed, location. Constitution Avenue has been shut down between the courthouse and the east wing of the National Gallery of Art.

Court staff has been instructed to come back at 12:30pm and the Libby hearing has been postponed until 1:30pm today.

Sheldon Snook, administrative assistant to Chief Judge Thomas Hogan, says Federal Protective Services was alerted to a suspicious package located behind a fountain on one side of the courthouse building. The police and fire departments, as well as homeland security, got to the scene, Hester reports.