Bataillon was a deputy public defender for Douglas County, Nebraska from 1974 to 1980.

On January 7, 1997, Bataillon was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska vacated by Judge Lyle Elmer Strom.

In 2003-05, Bataillon heard Citizens for Equal Protection v. Bruning, a federal constitutional challenge to a voter initiative constitutional amendment that prohibited Nebraska from recognizing same-sex marriages or unions known as Nebraska Initiative Measure 416.

In July 2006, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed Bataillon's decision on all three arguments and held that "laws limiting the state-recognized institution of marriage to heterosexual couples ... do not violate the Constitution of the United States."

In 2015, the Eighth Circuit's ruling was invalidated by the United States Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.