William H. Timbers

William Homer Timbers (September 5, 1915 – November 26, 1994) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. In addition to his legal and judicial career, Timbers was known as dog enthusiast who served a term as chairman of the board of the American Kennel Club.

Education and career

Timbers was born on September 5, 1915, in Yonkers, New York. He grew up in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. Timbers received his Artium Baccalaureus degree from Dartmouth College magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1937. Timbers received his Bachelor of Laws from Yale Law School in 1940. Timbers then practiced in Stamford, Connecticut from 1948 to 1953 as a partner of Cummings & Lockwood. Timbers remained there until joining the federal bench in 1960.

In 1992, Timbers wrote a majority opinion that upheld, by a 2–1 vote, a district court ruling that blocked the extradition of former Irish Republican Army (IRA) member Peter McMullen to Britain, on the ground that the 1986 Supplementary Extradition Treaty between the United States and Britain unlawfully singled out McMullen and two other men for punishment.

In 1986, Timbers dissented from the court's 2-1 decision (the majority being written by Judge Jon O. Newman) striking down the Bail Reform Act of 1984, which allowed preventive pretrial detention, on Fifth Amendment and Eighth Amendment grounds. Timbers wrote that Congress had approved pretrial detention in cases where it provided "needed protection" against "those defendants found to constitute a danger to the community."

Nomination of Meskill to the Second Circuit

Timbers, along with Senator Lowell Weicker, supported the nomination of Connecticut governor Thomas J. Meskill to the Second Circuit despite opposition from the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. Timbers wrote a letter in support of Meskill to President Gerald Ford.

Other activities

Timbers bred, raised, and exhibited Norwegian elkhounds. He was an enthusiast of the breed from 1958 onward. He served as president of the Ox Ridge Club and the Norwegian Elkhound Association of America. Timbers was also active in the American Kennel Club; he served as chairman of the AKC New York Trial Board (1965–68) and was for fourteen years as a director of the AKC before becoming chairman of the AKC board in 1982.

Timbers was an elder and trustee of the Noroton Presbyterian Church in Darien.

Death

Timbers lived in Darien, Connecticut. He died on November 26, 1994, in Suffield, Connecticut, at the age of 79, from kidney failure. He was survived by his wife Charlotte MacLachlan Timbers and four children.