The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed in 1890, and in 1907, the American Tobacco Company was indicted in violation of it. In 1908, when the Department of Justice filed suit against the company, 65 companies and 29 individuals were named in the suit. The Supreme Court ordered the company to dissolve in 1911 on the same day that it ordered the Standard Oil Trust to dissolve. The ruling in "United States v. American Tobacco Co." stated that the combination of the tobacco companies “in and of itself, as well as each and all of the elements composing it whether corporate or individual, whether considered collectively or separately in restraint of trade and an attempt to monopolize, and a monopolization within the first and second sections of the Anti-Trust Act.”