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.
[2] Timbers received his Artium Baccalaureus degree from Dartmouth College magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1937.
[1][3] Timbers was in private practice in New York City from 1940 to 1948 at the law firm of Davis, Polk, Wardwell, Sutherland & Kiendl.
[1] Timbers was nominated by President Richard Nixon on May 13, 1971, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated by Judge Robert P. Anderson.
[2] In 1990, Timbers joined in a majority opinion (written by Judge Frank Altimari, with Judge Thomas J. Meskill concurring in part and dissenting in part) holding that the New York City Subway system could bar panhandlers.
[2][7] 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.
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.
"[9] 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.