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Scrutinises American law and suspends first three, defending firm head teacher (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

scotus

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'head teacher' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'scrutinises american law and suspends first three defending firm' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'american' could be 'us' (abbreviation for United States) and 'us' is located in the answer.
'firm' could be 'co' (a firm is a company) and 'co' is found within the answer.
'first three' could be 't' (1st letter of 'three') and 't' is found within the answer.
A single letter 's' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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