We're then missing that the const qualification is applying to the int type.

Also, declarations can have multiple declarators.

   int const *p, volatile **q[3];  // syntax error! not how it works

This isn't bike-shedding. The shed has already been painted. There is a right answer which is not to make your code look weird just because the standard allows it.

No "int const", no i[array] instead of array[i], no deceptive trompe d'oeil nonsense like:

   int* p, q;

You will not solve any issue in C programming by swapping around declarators.

When we write code, stuff that looks weird should signal a bug. When bug-free code looks weird, that is a distracting false positive that grabs my attention for no reason. Don't add gratuitous weird.