Susan M. Jenkins, J.D., passed away peacefully in her home in Albuquerque, NM on New Year's Day. At the time of her death, she was with her husband, Ernest Sanchez; her daughter, Shantih Brando; and longtime family friend and companion, Rita Cruz. She is also survived by sisters Sally McMahon and Stacey Hoener, her loving grandchildren Sarah, Camille, Grace, and Will Taylor. She was a beloved aunt and great-aunt to many additional descendants on both sides of her and Ernie’s family.

Susan was born in 1948 and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, James Robert Jenkins, died in 1963, when Susan was just a child; she was raised, along with her three younger siblings, by her single mother, Marie Jenkins (d. 2008) and her maternal grandmother, Gertrude Torpy (d. 1986). Perhaps through the influence of her beloved mother and grandmother, Susan also had the strength and courage to pave paths uncommon for women of her time. Widowed at the age of 21, Susan raised her daughter as a single mother with the support of her matrilineal family structure, just as her mother had done. While doing so, Susan also became the first in her immediate family to earn a college degree. She graduated summa cum laude from Hunter College of the City University of New York and was named to Phi Beta Kappa. From there, Susan pursued her interest in the law, earning her JD from Columbia University in 1977. She was a member of the District of Columbia Bar and practiced law until her passing.

Susan’s passion as a lawyer was representing the underdog. Her legal specialty was in healthcare anti-trust, and the bulk of her storied career was made representing non-physician healthcare providers seeking to practice their craft alongside their medical colleagues. This included championing chiropractors, nurse-anesthetists, and other types of nurse-practitioners. As a proud feminist, she also fought hard for the rights of women, both as medical practitioners and as the patients whose wishes were often undermined by the medical system. In the second half of her career, she focused on representing midwives, and she became one of the most experienced and knowledgeable midwifery law attorneys in the country.

Susan was one of the first women lawyers to argue a case before the US Supreme Court. In the case, Union Labor Life Inc. vs. Pireno (1982), Susan successfully challenged the medical monopoly on healthcare by arguing that medical insurers couldn’t shield potentially anti-competitive peer review practices from antitrust challenges by claiming they were part of the “business of insurance.” This case allowed Susan to use her strong background in antitrust law to argue on behalf of non-traditional medical providers, in this case chiropractors. By taking on the “business of insurance,” Susan again championed the rights of providers and patients to choose their own healthcare, something she would advocate again and again throughout her career. The case was settled in a 6-3 decision for her client.

Susan went on to serve as legal counsel for the American College of Nurse Midwives, the American Association of Birth Centers, the Big Push for Midwives Campaign, and the California Association of Licensed Midwives. She maintained a private law practice for over 35 years through which she represented individual midwives, birth centers, and other healthcare providers, as well as their professional associations, including the New Mexico Midwives Association and the Association of Texas Midwives. Susan’s legacy includes the development and implementation of federal legislation to mandate freestanding birth centers as Medicaid providers, and the establishment and revision of state midwifery licensing laws. She was a founding member of the Birth Rights Bar Association, an advisory board member of Birth Monopoly, and a founding steering committee member of the Big Push for Midwives Campaign.

After her relocation to Washington DC, she met and fell in love with her second husband, Ernest Sanchez. They married in 1982 and lived together in the nation’s capital for many years, where they also practiced law together in a family law firm. At times, they argued as co-counsel on antitrust and communications law cases, blending their twined interests to make a powerhouse team. One of their most notable collaborations was their work on behalf of the State of Oregon to neutralize the anti-public radio claims of religious broadcast stations and challenges to FCC standards.

With a career so storied and historic, it is no surprise that Susan’s other passions lied in historical research and family genealogy. She was the keeper of family stories, both those she lived and those she inherited through this research; family members remember marveling at facts or nuggets she had dug up about their lineage, and laughing at more than one story that, however implausible, was actually true. She was able to compile histories of both her family and Ernie’s, which was one of the founding families of New Mexico. This was a great point of pride for Susan, who, along with her husband, was a Land of Enchantment Enthusiast. Susan delighted in Ernie’s family stories and legacy as much as her own. They made their home in a historical, 200-year old former convent in the South Valley, which was also the base of their respective and collaborative legal practices.

Susan is preceded in death by her father, James R. Jenkins; her mother, Marie Jenkins (Mimms); her brother, James (Jamie) Jenkins; and her first husband, John Brando. A devout Catholic, before the time of her passing, she referenced being together with loved ones in Heaven soon. Even so, she will be missed terribly by those she has left behind. 

A vigil and saying of the Holy Rosary will take place on Friday, January 16th, 2026 at 5pm at the Catholic Church of the Ascension (2150 Raymac Road SW, Albuquerque).

A Memorial Mass will be said at 10am on Saturday, January 17th at the Catholic Church of the Ascension (2150 Raymac Road SW, Albuquerque), with a burial directly to follow at Pajarito Cemetery (5811 Coors Blvd SW, at the corner of Pajarito Road and Coors Boulevard).

All friends and loved ones are invited to attend a Fellowship lunch and Celebration of Life after the burial at the home of Susan and Ernie (2348 Pajarito Road SW, Albuquerque). If you have photos of Susan from throughout the years, please feel free to bring hard copies (avoid originals if possible) to share with others, or post digital copies to this memorial website.

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