Alex Jones challenges The Onion's winning bid for Infowars

A federal bankruptcy judge in Houston is ordering a hearing on the court-ordered bankruptcy sale of Infowars.

Alex Jones was ordered to sell Infowars and its assets to pay the parents of the children killed in the Sandy Hook massacre one and a half billion dollars. The parody site bid, but Jones is challenging the sale. Jones's attorneys are saying the trustee changed the process days before and only opened sealed bids that had been submitted.

Alex Jones for years told Infowars viewers that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax- and in turn, the families of the slain children were harassed by his followers. The auction was intended to provide financial damage to the families – but The Onion's bid would do more than that if it gets past next week's hearing.

It was a monumental moment for the parents of the kids who died in the Sandy Hook mass shooting twelve years ago: the announcement The Onion had placed the winning bid for Infowars and all its assets.

"I mean, it's, it's a huge win, right? I mean, I wasn't aware until recently about The Onion being involved in it, but we were willing to take less money to ensure that somebody who was not affiliated with Jones was able to win this option. And so, the fact that The Onion got it is a really big win for us. And I couldn't be happier," said Robbie Parker, father of 6-year-old Emilie who was among the twenty children and six teachers gunned down in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012. "Of course, I mean, he's even, he was even he was even live streaming this morning before his site got shut down, that he's going to, he has another studio set up. And so, I wasn't naive enough to think that I could silence Alex Jones."

Jones had been forced to put it up for court-ordered auction. Two years ago. Jones admitted on the stand that the Sandy Hook mass shooting was real that 20 first graders and six teachers were killed and that Infowars was entertainment, not fact.

"Well, I will say from, and I'm not a media law expert, but what I, you know, I know that the courts didn't think much of his arguments because, you know, he was saying, he just offering us an opinion, but it, you know, he was attacking, you know, sandy hook parents. And it was, it was clear that he was treating what he said as the truth," said Professor Tom Johnson, who is faculty at the University of Texas Moody School of Communications.

CBS News reported that Onion planned to have "Every Town for Gun Safety" as the sole advertiser on the Infowars platform. The nonprofit was formed as a result of the Sandy Hook shooting.

"This is the organization put together to advocate for reforms to gun laws, to reduce gun violence. They'll be the exclusive advertiser on a platform that targeted those families, which called them liars," said Kelly Kaufhold, an associate professor at Texas State University.

"The twist is, and I think there's value in this, they'll be putting that message in a space where people have not heard the message before."

Jones reportedly Wednesday and had expected a bidding process, in which interested parties could bid against each other, but now they claim only sealed bids previously submitted were accepted. The federal bankruptcy judge wants a hearing on it next week, so it is not a done deal yet.