The Alaskan lawyer who claimed Justice Clarence Thomas groped her at a social event in the 1990s on Saturday reflected on the personal toll that comes with publicly accusing powerful men of misconduct and questioned whether speaking out was worth the anguish.

In an opinion article in the Anchorage Daily News, the lawyer, Moira Smith, revisited her experience in 2016 when she accused Thomas of inappropriately touching her at a dinner party in Virginia in 1999. The National Law Journal first published Smith’s claims. Thomas, who called Smith’s claim “preposterous,” denied any misconduct.