In 2003, Skavdahl became a judge on the Seventh Judicial District Court, in Casper, Wyoming upon appointment by Governor Dave Freudenthal.

[1][2] In November 2010, Governor Dave Freudenthal recommended Skavdahl to fill the Wyoming vacancy that was to be created when Judge William F. Downes retired on July 24, 2011.

[6] In a June 21, 2016, decision, Skavdahl held that Congress did not authorize the Bureau of Land Management to regulate hydraulic fracturing.

There, Congress deprived the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating hydraulic fracturing under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) except when diesel fuels are used.

The court reasoned that Congress had not indirectly conferred far broader authority on the BLM via general land management statutes than it had given directly on the EPA.