In a statement on Thursday, Biden said he chose to pardon 39 people “who have shown successful rehabilitation” as well as a “commitment to making their communities stronger and safer”.

I am also commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people who are serving long prison sentences – many of whom would receive lower sentences if charged under today’s laws, policies, and practices,” he said.

The commutations were for people who were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, the White House said.

Thursday’s announcement came less than two weeks after Biden pardoned his son Hunter for firearms and tax convictions after pledging that he wouldn’t do so.

Republicans seized on that decision, attacking the Democratic president for using his power to shield a family member from legal judgements. They accused Biden of enforcing a separate standard of justice for those with political connections.

The Biden administration rejected those allegations, saying Hunter Biden’s prosecution was political in nature.

The pardon spurred renewed calls for President Biden, who will leave office in January when President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated, to pardon and commute the sentences of thousands of people who have submitted clemency petitions.

“Before you leave the White House, you must act on your words that ‘America is a nation founded on the promise of second chances’ by prioritizing an ambitious clemency initiative that pardons or commutes the sentences of the approximately 10,000 pending clemency petitions,” dozens of progressive groups wrote in an open letter to Biden last week.

They called on Biden to use his clemency powers “in a broad sweep of categories of people and cases”, including the elderly and chronically ill, people on death row and those first incarcerated as minors.

“We urge you to take immediate action so that you may leave a more meaningful legacy than the current numbers reflect,” the organisations said.

Those pardoned on Thursday had been convicted of nonviolent crimes such as drug offences and turned their lives around, the White House said.

They include a woman who led emergency response teams during natural disasters, a church deacon who has worked as an addiction counsellor and youth counsellor, a doctoral student in molecular biosciences and a decorated military veteran.

In Thursday’s statement, Biden said he would “take more steps in the weeks ahead” and continue to review clemency petitions.

The president had previously issued 122 commutations and 21 other pardons.

He has also broadly pardoned those convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia and pardoned former US service members convicted of violating a now-repealed military ban on consensual gay sex.

That is in a bid to shield them from potential retribution after Trump – who has vowed to take revenge against those who have opposed him – takes office.

CBS reports that while Biden is said to have debated the possibility of issuing the pardons with senior White House aides, no specific names had been formally recommended to him.

Sources have told AFP that officials are also considering the message it would send to pardon people who have not committed crimes.

That is in the wake of the controversy surrounding Biden’s unconditional pardoning of his son Hunter, who was set to face sentencing this month on federal felony gun and tax convictions.

Republicans and some Democrats have criticised the move, which came after the president previously said he would not take such a step.

US media reports that those who could be in line for the potential pre-emptive pardons from Biden include Dr Anthony Fauci, who has been critical of Trump’s Covid response, and California’s Senator-elect Adam Schiff, who led the first impeachment effort against Trump.

Other Democrats who, like Schiff, had a role in the Trump impeachment cases, or who investigated the 2021 US Capitol riots, could also be granted them.

In an interview with NPR last month, Schiff said he did not think pre-emptive pardons were a good idea because he believed the courts were capable of withstanding threats from Donald Trump.

“I think this is frankly so implausible as not to be worthy of much consideration,” he said of the reports that such pardons were being considered.

“I would urge the president not to do that. I think it would seem defensive and unnecessary.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier this week that more pardons could be expected from President Biden before the end of his term in January but did not give further details.

“He’s thinking through that process very thoroughly.”

Among those who could be given the more traditional presidential pardons for crimes committed are nonviolent drug offenders or others who’ve served time for various offensives, CBS reports.

Donald Trump is not the only person to threaten retribution against those perceived to have opposed him in the past. His nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, has said he would go after politicians and members of the media who he alleges without evidence helped overturn the 2020 US presidential election results.

“We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly,” Patel said.

“We’ll figure that out. But yeah, we’re putting you all on notice… We’re actually going to use the Constitution to prosecute them for crimes they said we have always been guilty of but never have.

“Democratic Congressman Brendan Boyle said in response that he thought Biden should issue blanket pardons to those targeted on what he called Donald Trump’s “enemies list”.

“By choosing Kash Patel as his FBI Director, Trump has made it clear that he is more focused on settling personal scores than on protecting the American people or upholding the rule of law,” said Boyle.