orders are orders

Calque of German Befehl ist Befehl (“order is order”), used as a defence during the Nuremberg trials (see Nuremberg defense).

orders are orders

1. Used wryly when someone attempts to justify questionable actions by referring to rules, laws or orders from higher up.

• “orders are orders”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.