A Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist jailed on drug charges, a man convicted of stealing food stamps to feed his family and another who used pesticides to kill three bald eagles are among the unlikely recipients of some of the last pardons of the Bush Presidency.

Sixteen individuals, none of them household names, received pardons or had their sentences commuted in the latest bout of White House clemency, two months before President Bush leaves office.

Mr Bush has been conservative with his powers of pardon, issuing only 171 “statements of forgiveness” and eight commutations during his two terms in office: less than half as many as Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan. Eight thousand pleas for pardon have been turned down.

But as the end of his presidency looms, speculation is rising about whether he might use the extraordinary power to benefit political allies — including those who have yet to stand trial for their alleged crimes may yet pay a criminal price for darker deeds committed on his watch.

The most politically sensitive of clemency cases so far was Mr Bush’s decision to cut the sentence of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, sparing the former aide to Dick Cheney a 30-month spell in jail for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Of the political figures known to be seeking end-of-term clemency, the most prominent are Randy “Duke” Cunningham, a former Republican Congressman for California who was jailed for eight years in 2005 after he pleaded guilty to taking more than $2 million (£1.29 million) in bribes; and Edwin W. Edwards, the four-time Democratic Governor of Louisiana, who was sentenced to ten years in 2001 for racketeering. Both have applied to have their sentences commuted.

The presidential power of pardon is unique and sweeping. Applicants seeking clemency through the Justice Department must meet strict criteria, but those who turn to the president need fulfil none. The current and unprecedented logjam at the Justice Department has seen many infamous felons using their connections to secure fast-track forgiveness from the White House.

Conrad Black, the convicted newspaper magnate, is reported to have filed a clemency request last week in a bid to escape the remaining five years of his six-year sentence.

Lawyers are also seeking clemency for John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taleban” who received a 20-year-sentence in a plea bargain after his capture in Afghanistan.

Marion Jones, the sprinter convicted of lying to federal agents about her use of performance-enhancing drugs, is seeking a pardon after finishing her sentence in September.

Michael Milken, the billionaire financier and philanthropist who admitted securities fraud charges, is also hoping to clear his name.

End-of-presidency pardons are not without risk. Bill Clinton sparked federal investigations after pardoning the fugitive financier Marc Rich and his own brother among 140 such pardons. George Bush Snr pardoned officials involved in the Iran-Contra scandal, including a pre-emptive pardon for the former defence secretary Caspar Weinberger a week before he was to stand trial.

Few officials of the Bush Administration are that close to prosecution. Investigations are ongoing into the destruction of “torture tapes” by CIA agents and the dismissal of US attorneys by the Justice Department, but no charges have been brought.

Some civil rights advocates are concerned that Mr Bush may try to use pardons to protect administration officials from future prosecution, notably those involved in domestic spying and “coercive interrogation” that could have been torture. Abraham Lincoln did so with a blanket amnesty on soldiers in the Civil War. Jimmy Carter took similar action to rehabilitate all those who had refused to fighting in the Vietnam War.

But a blanket amnesty for the Bush Administration’s intelligence community seems unthinkable, and lawyers are odds over whether Mr. Bush could use pre-emptive pardons without naming individuals and the crime.

One Democrat congressman, Jerold Nadler, was concerned enough to introduce a resolution demanding that the president refrain from pardoning “cronies who may well be guilty of serious criminal offences.” Such a resolution, however, would not be binding.

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