Justice Samuel Alito Jr. shares with Justice Neil Gorsuch more than just a firm conservative bent. They both have a fondness for a certain Dickens character to make a point about how their colleagues interpret the law.

Alito stood alone in dissent this week in a key Fourth Amendment decision. He found unreasonable the majority’s disapproval of a police officer’s warrantless search of a motorcycle parked in the driveway of a home.