Why do some people prefer “T const&” over “const T&”?

Question

So, I realize that const T& and T const& are identical and both mean a reference to a const T. In both cases, the reference is also constan

Answer 1

This will make a difference when you have more then one const/volatile modifiers. Then putting it to the left of the type is still valid but will break the consistency of the whole declaratiion. For example:

T const * const *p;

means that p is a pointer to const pointer to const T and you consistenly read from right to left.

const T * const *p;

means the same but the consistency is lost and you have to remember that leftmost const/volatile is bound to T alone and not T *.