President Joe Biden has used this power to pardon his son, Hunter, following the younger Biden's conviction on federal gun and tax charges. On Thursday, the president used his power to issue 39 pardons and commute 1,500 sentences. So what is clemency?

President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and pardoning 39 others in an expansive act of clemency in the final weeks of his presidency.

President Biden on Thursday announced he is commuting sentences for roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the pandemic; he is also pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes in what the White House called the “largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.