law professor james duane told "new york" magazine that gowdy's assertion was "extremely imaginative" but "mistaken," because a person who is involuntarily summoned before a grand jury or a legislative body may selectively invoke the right to silence. law professor alan dershowitz took a different view, arguing: "you can't simply make statements about a subject and then plead the fifth in response to questions about the very same subject," and asserting, "[o]nce you open the door to an area of inquiry, you have waived your fifth amendment right."