When I said that nothing would stop the nomination if there were 50 votes in the Senate, it didn’t occur to me specify that meant 50 votes *physically present* in the Senate and the VP not currently serving as Acting President.

Some people—including me—have assumed that the VP could still break ties if serving as Acting POTUS.

The expert, @ProfBrianKalt, disagrees, because Article I specifies that the Pro Tem presides when the VP is Acting POTUS.

And, of course, Senate rules could be temporarily changed to allow for remote voting (just as House rules were). But that would require 50 votes physically present, which would sort of defeat the purpose.

(And would be subject to a filibuster, though it might be awkward for the Democrats to block it)

Do note that unless POTUS was completely incapacitated, he could reclaim power---even for just 10 minutes---to allow the Acting POTUS to return to VP and break a tie.

It's not like transferring power under Art. 25, sec 3 completely forecloses tiebreaking in the Senate.