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Standard Oil Disassembled In the largest and most visible anti-trust case in American history to date, the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey was ordered to divest itself of its 37 interlocking firms. An appeal to the Supreme Court was turned down. On May 15, the Supreme Court ordered the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey to divest itself of its holdings in all of the 37 other oil firms it owned or controlled. The Standard Oil Company of New Jersey was one of the most flagrant monopolies. By 1878, it controlled 80 percent of the oil output in the United States. It forced the railroads to raise rates on its competitors, thus insuring its monopoly.