Among them was Larry D. Thompson, the former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, who is black. Mr. Thompson described Mr. Sessions and ''a good man and an honest man, untainted by prejudice.''

''I have experienced racism all my life. Yet I know Jeff Sessions - not as a symbol, not just as a colleague - but as a man and a friend,'' Mr. Thompson added. ''He will serve our nation well as a United States District Court judge.''

At a committee hearing last week, Mr. Sessions was sharply questioned about his attitudes toward blacks, and about his prosecution last year of three blacks who were eventually acquitted on voting-fraud charges.

Mr. Sessions acknowledged at the hearing that he once ''may have said something about the N.A.A.C.P. being un-American or Communist, but I meant no harm by it.'' He strenuously denied that he bore any racial prejudice, and his supporters say Mr. Sessions is a victim of politicians who are using his past statements of context.

In an eight-page statement provided to reporters, Mr. Figures said Mr. Sessions made the ''white folks'' comment to him after Mr. Figures had been in a dispute with a secretary in the United States Attorney's office in Mobile.

''Mr. Sessions called me into his office and indicated he felt I had been unduly harsh with the secretary,'' the statement said. ''Mr. Sessions admonished me to 'be careful what you say to white folks.' ''

Mr. Figures said he was offended. ''Had Mr. Sessions merely urged me to be careful about what I said to 'folks,' that admonition would have been quite reasonable,'' Mr. Figures explained. ''But that was not the language that he used.''